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Pus is a whitish-yellow, yellow or yellow-brown substance produced during inflammatory pyogenic
Pyogenic

Pyogenic refers to bacterial infections that make pus.The pus is mostly composed of dead neutrophils that are destroyed by bacteria such as Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus through the release of leukocidins....
 bacterial infections
Infection

An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host resources to multiply ....
. An accumulation of pus in an enclosed tissue space is known as an abscess
Abscess

An abscess is a collection of pus that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue on the basis of an infection process or other foreign materials ....
. A visible collection of pus within or beneath the epidermis
Epidermis (skin)

The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin, composed of terminally differentiated stratified squamous epithelium, acting as the body's major barrier against an inhospitable environment....
, on the other hand, is known as a pustule
Pustule

A 'pustule' is a small elevation of the skin containing purulent material usually consisting of necrotic inflammatory cells.No absolute size, or range of sizes, is specified in this definition, as there seems to be no general consensus within the literature, reflected in the text Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: Clin...
 or pimple
Pimple

A pimple is a result of a blockage of the skin's pore. It can be a pustule or papule....
. Pus is produced from the dead and living cells
Cell (biology)

The cell is the structural and functional unit of all known Life organisms. It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living, and is often called the building bricks of life....
 which travel into the intercellular spaces around the affected cells. Something that creates pus is called suppurative, pyogenic, or purulent.






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Encyclopedia


Pus is a whitish-yellow, yellow or yellow-brown substance produced during inflammatory pyogenic
Pyogenic

Pyogenic refers to bacterial infections that make pus.The pus is mostly composed of dead neutrophils that are destroyed by bacteria such as Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus through the release of leukocidins....
 bacterial infections
Infection

An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host resources to multiply ....
. An accumulation of pus in an enclosed tissue space is known as an abscess
Abscess

An abscess is a collection of pus that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue on the basis of an infection process or other foreign materials ....
. A visible collection of pus within or beneath the epidermis
Epidermis (skin)

The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin, composed of terminally differentiated stratified squamous epithelium, acting as the body's major barrier against an inhospitable environment....
, on the other hand, is known as a pustule
Pustule

A 'pustule' is a small elevation of the skin containing purulent material usually consisting of necrotic inflammatory cells.No absolute size, or range of sizes, is specified in this definition, as there seems to be no general consensus within the literature, reflected in the text Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: Clin...
 or pimple
Pimple

A pimple is a result of a blockage of the skin's pore. It can be a pustule or papule....
. Pus is produced from the dead and living cells
Cell (biology)

The cell is the structural and functional unit of all known Life organisms. It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living, and is often called the building bricks of life....
 which travel into the intercellular spaces around the affected cells. Something that creates pus is called suppurative, pyogenic, or purulent. If it creates mucus
Mucus

In vertebrates, mucus is a slippery secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is a viscous colloid containing antiseptic enzymes and immunoglobulins that serves to protect Epithelium in the respiratory,...
 as well as pus, it is called mucopurulent.

Pus consists of a thin, protein
Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
-rich fluid, known as liquor puris, and dead cells, which are part of the body's innate immune response. Pus can also appear visibly from pimples. Neutrophils are produced in the bone marrow
Bone marrow

Bone marrow is the flexible biological tissue found in the hollow interior of bones. In adults, marrow in large bones produces new blood cells....
 and released into the blood. When the need to fight infection arises, they move to the site of infection by a process known as chemotaxis
Chemotaxis

Chemotaxis, a kind of taxis, is the phenomenon in which bodily cells, bacterium, and other single-cell or multicellular organisms direct their movements according to certain chemicals in their environment....
, usually triggered by cytokine
Cytokine

Cytokines are a category of signaling molecules that, like hormones and neurotransmitters, are used extensively in cell communication. They are proteins, peptides or glycoproteins....
s released from macrophage
Macrophage

Macrophages are white blood cells within tissues, produced by the division of monocytes. Human macrophages are about 21 micrometres in diameter....
s that sense invading organisms. At the site of infection, they engulf and kill bacteria. Eventually, the neutrophils die, and these dead cells are then phagocytosed
Phagocytosis

File:Phagocytosis in three steps.pngPhagocytosis is the cell process of Phagocytes and Protists of engulfing solid particles by the cell membrane to form an internal phagosome, which is a food vacuole, or pteroid....
 by macrophages, which break them down further. Pus, therefore, is the viscous material composed of these dead neutrophils.

Neutrophils are the most abundant type of leukocyte in human blood
Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's Cell s ? such as nutrients and oxygen ? and transports waste products away from those same cells....
, comprising anywhere between 40% to 75% of leukocytes.

When seen in a wound or dry skin, pus indicates the area is infected and should be cleaned with antiseptic
Antiseptic

Antiseptics are antimicrobials that are applied to living biological tissue/skin to reduce the possibility of infection, sepsis, or putrefaction....
.

Despite normally being of a whitish-yellow hue, changes in the color of pus can be observed under certain circumstances. Pus is sometimes green because of the presence of myeloperoxidase
Myeloperoxidase

Myeloperoxidase is a peroxidase enzyme most abundantly present in neutrophil granulocytes . It is a lysosome protein stored in azurophilic granules of the neutrophil....
, an intensely green antibacterial protein produced by some types of white blood cells. Blue pus is found in certain infections of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common bacterium which can cause disease in animals and humans. It is found in soil, water, and most man-made environments throughout the world....
 as a result of the pyocyanin bacterial pigment it produces; amoebic
Amoeba

Amoeba is a term used either to describe protists that move by crawling via pseudopods, or to refer to a genus that includes species that move by this mechanism....
 abscesses of the liver
Liver

The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals; it has a wide range of functions, a few of which are detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion....
, meanwhile, produce brownish pus. Pus might have a reddish tint to it after mixing with blood. Pus can also have a foul odor.

See also

  • Ubi pus, ibi evacua
    Ubi pus, ibi evacua

    Ubi pus, ibi evacua is a Latin aphorism or adage, often cited in medicine, that literally means: "where there is pus, there evacuate it".It refers to what clinicians should do when there is a collection of pus in the body, that is, to create an opening for it to evacuate....