# What's that wound powder stuff the (movie) war medic was sprinkling? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-wound-powder-stuff-the-movie-war-medic-was-sprinkling/276642 "2004-11-25T16:20:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-wound-powder-stuff-the-movie-war-medic-was-sprinkling/276642/21 "2004-11-26T20:52:56Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > When I read this OP, I immediately thought of **QuikClot**. This powder is now Military Issue. It clots up the blood and stops the bleeding almost instantly! There was a little piece on QuickClot in the November issue of [Discover](http://www.discover.com/issues/nov-04/departments/reviews/?page=3) . ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-wound-powder-stuff-the-movie-war-medic-was-sprinkling/276642/22 "2004-11-27T03:35:23Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > Uh… nope, I’m still not getting it. Why wouldn’t the 10 kg infant get a 75 mg dose? How come it just doesn’t scale down proportionately? What am I missing? Infants aren’t just miniature adults, their bodies are physiologically different. [This paper](http://www.dcmsonline.org/jax-medicine/1998journals/august98/pediatric.htm) explains some of the differences. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-wound-powder-stuff-the-movie-war-medic-was-sprinkling/276642/23 "2004-11-27T04:00:42Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Not all wounds need treatment with antibiotics. Usually it is best to just clean them well with antiseptic solutions, and dress them. At times other antibiotic creams and ointments are also placed on them. Some wounds, like animal or human bites, merit antibiotic pills or injections. > > Wounds sustained from falling into a septic pit or onto a pungee stick would probably merit antibiotic treatment. WWII battlefield wounds were subject to contamination on the way to the aid station before they can be evacuated out to a more sterile (if that’s the right description) location such as a field hospital. The sulfa was used wholesale as insurance against the results of that contamination. It had the nice feature that anyone, trained or untrained, can sprinkle it on, it doesn’t take long to do it, requires no equipment and works on unconscious people because it doesn’t have to be swallowed. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-wound-powder-stuff-the-movie-war-medic-was-sprinkling/276642/24 "2004-11-27T14:16:39Z")
> [@dwyr](#): > > Infants aren’t just miniature adults, their bodies are physiologically different. [This paper](http://www.dcmsonline.org/jax-medicine/1998journals/august98/pediatric.htm) explains some of the differences. Thanks! That’s exactly what I wanted to know. I figured it has something to do with differences in the wee ones’ immune systems, but wasn’t sure what to look up. Thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-wound-powder-stuff-the-movie-war-medic-was-sprinkling/276642/25 "2004-11-27T14:52:09Z")
My father and the surgeon he was associated with were both Medical Corps officers during WWII. My father ended up in a big army hospital after North Africa, but the surgeon landed on Omaha Beach before noon on D-Day. He set up a clearing station under a knocked out tank and started processing wounded and doing triage. He said all he could do was stop the bleeding, fill up the wound with sulfa powder, close the wound with safety pins and get the survivors on the next boat back to England. Sulfa powder was a lifesaver under those circumstances, especially for chest and belly penetrating wounds. The idea of closing gunshot and shell fragment wounds with safety pins gives me the willies – but now you know why field medics carry those long strings of safety pins. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-wound-powder-stuff-the-movie-war-medic-was-sprinkling/276642/26 "2004-11-27T16:58:34Z")
No idea if this is a related substance but when I was in Sweden 20-odd years ago, there was a powder available from pharmacists called sårpulver that was a yellowish preparation to sprinkle on cuts and scrapes that worked as a disinfectant/antiseptic and appeared to increase the rate that a wound would normally heal at by a significant amount. The active ingredient being Bismuth TriBromoPhenol. Perhaps a Swedish contributor could shed some more light on this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-wound-powder-stuff-the-movie-war-medic-was-sprinkling/276642.md?page=1)