Atlantic article on Lincoln's survival

[Eva Elisabeth]

(12-02-2013 08:27 AM)BettyO Wrote:  Good point, Joe.

I've often wondered the same thing - if the bullet wound didn't kill him, the unsanitary conditions utilized with probes and fingers could more or less have resulted in an infection within the brain which would have killed him. The vast majority of amputations and deaths from wounds in the Civil War were the result of unsanitary medical conditions and poor treatment.

I personally doubt this. AFAIK, the most likely causative organisms for posttraumatic infections are straphylococci, streptococci or clostridiae. Incubation period for
staphylococcus is usually 4-10 days, for streptococcus it can be 18 hours.
Clostridium perfringens can cause gas gangrene after 5-8 hours, this would go along with myonecrosis (muscle tissue death), gas production, sepsis and then progress to toxic shock (which would be the fastest fatal reaction in the case of straphylococcus and streptococcus infection, too).
A. Lincoln showed no signs of a toxic shock syndrome.