Crossword clues for pus
pus
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pus \Pus\, n. [L., akin to Gr. ?, ?, and to E. foul: cf. F. pus. See Foul, a.] (Med.) The yellowish white opaque creamy matter produced by the process of suppuration. It consists of innumerable white nucleated cells floating in a clear liquid.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., from Latin pus "pus, matter from a sore;" figuratively "bitterness, malice" (related to puter "rotten" and putere "to stink"), from PIE *pu- (2) "to rot, decay" (cognates: Sanskrit puyati "rots, stinks," putih "stinking, foul, rotten;" Greek puon "discharge from a sore," pythein "to cause to rot;" Lithuanian puviu "to rot;" Gothic fuls, Old English ful "foul"), perhaps originally echoic of a natural exclamation of disgust.
Wiktionary
n. A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead pyogenic bacteria; normally found in regions of bacterial infection.
Wikipedia
Pus is an exudate produced by vertebrates during inflammatory pyogenic bacterial infections.
PUS may also refer to:
- PUS (airport), IATA code for Gimhae International Airport, Busan, South Korea
- PUS (language), ISO 639-2 code for the Pashto language, spoken primarily in Afghanistan and western Pakistan
-
President of the United States, the head of state of the United States of America
- List of Presidents of the United States
- Public Understanding of Science (journal), a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal
- Permanent Under-Secretary, the most senior civil servant of a British Government ministry
-
, a Finnish sports club known today as Aalto University Sports Club
- "-pus", a suffix meaning "foot", often used in taxonomy
Pus is an exudate, typically white-yellow, yellow, or yellow-brown, formed at the site of inflammation during bacterial or fungal infection. An accumulation of pus in an enclosed tissue space is known as an abscess, whereas a visible collection of pus within or beneath the epidermis is known as a pustule, pimple, or spot.
Pus consists of a thin, protein-rich fluid, known as liquor puris, and dead leukocytes from the body's immune response (mostly neutrophils) . During infection, macrophages release cytokines which trigger neutrophils to seek the site of infection by chemotaxis. There, the neutrophils release granules which destroy the bacteria. The bacteria resist the immune response by releasing toxins called leukocidins. As the neutrophils die off from toxins and old age, they are destroyed by macrophages, forming the viscous pus.
Bacteria that cause pus are called pyogenic.
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, an intensely green antibacterial protein produced by some types of white blood cells. Green, foul-smelling pus is found in certain infections of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The greenish color is a result of the bacterial pigment pyocyanin that it produces. Amoebic abscesses of the liver produce brownish pus, which is described as looking like "anchovy paste". Pus can also have a foul odor, particularly pus from anaerobic infections.
In almost all cases when there is a collection of pus in the body, the clinician will try to create an opening to drain it. This principle has been distilled into the famous Latin aphorism " Ubi pus, ibi evacua" ("Where there is pus, evacuate it").
Some disease processes caused by pyogenic infections are impetigo, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, and necrotizing fasciitis.
Usage examples of "pus".
On the twenty-sixth day an abscess formed on the left side below the nipple, and from it was discharged a large quantity of pus and blood.
The bubo under his arm had begun to ooze blood and a slow greenish pus.
It is not absolutely indicative of the presence of blood, for tincture of guaiacum is coloured blue by milk, saliva, and pus.
Recently a hysterectomy patient-an obese woman who had developed a big pus pocket at the bottom of her incision, right above the pubic area-was tranfferred from the gynie floor.
It is useful in the treatment of tonsillitis when pus has begun to form.
Sir Benjamin Brodie speaks of it as being well known that the inoculation of lymph or pus from the peritoneum of a puerperal patient is often attended with dangerous and even fatal symptoms.
Subsequently pleurisy, pneumonia, or even pus in the pleural cavity often result.
There was also pus at the site of the entry wound and in the vacuum bottle of the surgical drain Ford had established as a precautionary measure.
The wound was no great matter, but there were bits of dirt and debris in the wound, and the edges were red and gaping, raw surfaces clouded with a film of pus.
At the end of an indefinite period, it becomes pointed, white or yellow, and discharges pus mixed with blood.
The formation of pus in different parts of the genitourinary system is accompanied by the appearance of pus corpuscles in the urine.
During the next few weeks the wound had festered, and Nedda had crouched like a bear in the darkest recess of the gundeck, her face swollen to double its size, pus leaking out through the dirty bandage, dripping yellow and thick as cream from her chin.
After opening the abscess with a sharp blade, causing a spontaneous flow of pus, I had pushed in the tip of a hemostat clamp to insure good drainage.
Arising, his sensitive face set in hard lines, the horseleech wiped foul-smelling greenish pus from his hands with a handful of leaves torn from the bush, then approached the komees who sat weeping unashamed tears onto the big, scarred head cradled in his lap.
But the things that seized my whole attention were the yellow blobs of pus in the corners of the eyes, the mucopurulent discharge from the nostrils and the photophobia, which made the dog blink painfully at the light from the surgery window.