What it means
A thick, cloudy fluid that forms where the body is fighting an infection, most often a bacterial one. It can be white, yellow, green or brown. A pocket of pus closed in by tissue is an abscessAB-sesA closed pocket of pus in tissue, walled off by the body.Full entry . The medical words for drainage that contains pus are purulent and suppurative.
For the nurse
Describe wound drainage by amount, color, thickness and smell, and report new or increasing purulent drainage. Wear gloves when handling dressings and dispose of them as contaminated waste.
In a chart
"Moderate amount of thick yellow purulent drainage from incision; edges red and warm."
At a glance
| Spanish | pus |
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Related terms
wound
A break or injury in the skin or the tissue under it.
abscess
A closed pocket of pus in tissue, walled off by the body.
organism
A living thing, such as a bacterium, virus, fungus, parasite, plant or animal.
infectious
Caused by germs, or able to spread germs and cause infection in others.