What happens to dwarves with infections?

Question

My military dwarves sallied out to fight a goblin ambush group that was attacking my woodcutter, and they were ambushed by another group. They killed a few and scared the others off. While pursuing the cowards they were ambushed by a third group. After a fierce battle, I had to send a lot of soldiers to the hospital. Luckily no one died.

My doctors took care of the wounded and got them all fixed up. Well, almost. Some of them got out of the hospital with an infection. They're back on their training schedule, and seem perfectly fine, except for the mention of an infection in the health screen. Will their condition deteriorate sometime later and get them back to the hospital? Or perhaps to the morgue? If so, what can I do to treat the infections?

Answer 1

Infections can heal on their own, but not always. The best method is prevention, which means having soap in your hospital so the doctors clean their wounds (and hopefully prevent infection).

If your dwarves ever become "pale" it means that death from infection is imminent.

Answer 2

Chances are, they will die. Healthcare has always been and continues to e very bugged. Possible causes are, but are not limited to: - If the dwarf is carried through water (i.e. a dwarven bath) then the doctors will never clean him thinking he is already clean. - Any failed medical treatment will result in an infection. No further treatment will be scheduled because even though the treatment failed, the doctors consider it successful. - Out right laziness on the part of hospital workers. All healthcare jobs are considered extremely low priority, and even if you turn ALL other jobs off on your medical staff, they will still stand around idle rather than help patients. - Saving the game with injured dwarves removes all scheduled care, and these tasks will not be regenerated.

The only thing you can do to try and help a dwarf with an infection is wait for them to pass out, then build a cage trap underneath them to trap them. Move them in the cage to the hospital, then set them free. This will most likely not work however because by the time a dwarf passes out from infection, it's usually too late to save them.