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[Mimodo]

I've got a dwarf who was injured a while back, and partially treated (got out of bed halfway through because it had taken so long). I know for a fact that the wound was cleaned with water from a stagnant source, but as of yet there is no infection. How long before I can be sure I'll never see an infection, and that my little guy is safe with just a scar?

[h0lx]

I guess this calls for !!SCIENCE!!.

Oh and soap is an extremely useful thing to have around.

[StagnantSoul]

...What's wrong with stagnant stuff?

[Mimodo]

...What's wrong with stagnant stuff?

Only the water, your soul is fine :p

I guess this calls for !!SCIENCE!!.

Oh and soap is an extremely useful thing to have around.

Yeah, I should soap up, but that requires killing animals, burning wood, and an extra two layers of processing. I'd rather see dwarves die than go through that much effort

[Prudent Viper]

...What's wrong with stagnant stuff?

Only the water, your soul is fine :p

I guess this calls for !!SCIENCE!!.

Oh and soap is an extremely useful thing to have around.

Yeah, I should soap up, but that requires killing animals, burning wood, and an extra two layers of processing. I'd rather see dwarves die than go through that much effort

I used to think the same. However, soap drastically decreases chance of infection, even if there's a delay before treatment.
Infection generally takes multiple months to take it's effect. Check your dwarf from time to time. If at any point his status is "Pale", then he'll soon die from infection.

[h0lx]

All my forts get a floor with one of each kind of workshop, in case of moods and when I want to create something, once that's done, j-m-q all the jobs is not that difficult. just buy and slaughter some fatter animals from the next caravan. 10 units of soap last a long time.

[§k]

How exactly does infection kill a dwarf?

Does it directly kill a dwarf after a certain period of time? Or does it cause slow blood loss? Or does it damage lungs or brain?

[Slogo]

I think they just... die. They go Faint then Pale then one day you'll find them on the ground dead which may indicate blood loss actually, but it's not like the blood leaks out or anything.

Infection is somewhat rare though, probably depending a bit on the type of surgery and definitely on the skill of the doctor. In my current fort I treated about 5 dwarves for injuries (mostly blunt trauma injuries) with a few more having untreated more minor injuries and only one of them got infected. It took ~1 season for the infection to kick in an off the dwarf.

[slothen]

I see infections all the time.  They are avoidable though.  Infection weakens a dwarf and the infection can get worse or eventually clear up, just like in people.  Depends what is infected.  Infection will more likely kill a dwarf when they're already bedridden from multiple trauma or organ damage or disease.

[khearn]

I wouldn't expect too many infections from blunt trauma, they should require open wounds for the most part. I get them frequently if I don't have a soap industry set up. Once I have soap on hand they don't tend to be a problem. I still see them occasionally, but they don't generally get bad. Dwarven soap seems to be about as good as penicillin.

I wonder if we let a world go long enough if soap-resistant bacteria will develop?

Getting set up for making soap seems like a pain, but once you've done it a few times it's no problem, especially if you use workflow (part of dfhack). Just set up a wood furnace with a job to make ash and have workflow set to keep a few ash blocks on hand. Then a lye maker set to always have a few units of lye around. Then a soapmaker with a small nearby stockpile set to just have tallow, that takes from my main food stockpile. So the first few tallow created and put in the main food stockpile will be brought over near the soapmaker, and thus will probably not be used in roasts. Then set the soapmaker to make soap from tallow, with workflow set to keep 10 or so soap in stock. Then you never need to worry about it again.

Setting up a tallow-only stockpile is a major pain without dfhack, every creature in the game is listed with its fat and tallow (plus a couple with wax, and fluffy wamblers with pudge), and there are a lot of creatures. Oh, and several screens of forgotten beast fat and tallow as well. But with the ability to search in the stockpile settings screen, sorting the tallow from the fat, wax, and pudge in the Food/Fat list is easy. Making soap really, really benefits from dfhack.

   Keith

[wuphonsreach]

Always embark with a few units of Lye.  Once onsite, setup a Kitchen+Tanner+Butcher in close proximity.  Also setup a soap making workshop. Butcher the draft animals, let the cook convert the fat into tallow, make soap.

That's generally enough for the first year of the fort.

[Mimodo]

I think I should add to my previous comment. It's not too hard for a normal fort, and I do all the time. It is a little more difficult for this one of just 4 dwarves.

Always embark with a few units of Lye.  Once onsite, setup a Kitchen+Tanner+Butcher in close proximity.  Also setup a soap making workshop. Butcher the draft animals, let the cook convert the fat into tallow, make soap.

That's generally enough for the first year of the fort.

I should make a habit of doing this. Would save so much effort.



But anyway, on the original question, it's been almost two years, and despite flashing to show he's injured, no infection. So obviously he got lucky. I'll report back if it ever comes back