The cause of the original bleed does not matter. Wound Infection is created when a bleeding wound is treated with a non-disinfected dressing/tool or is allowed to close on its own. That makes prevention simple: stop the bleed and use equipment that actually shows the Disinfected state.
Wound Infection starts with wound treatment, not with the thing that cut you
Current vanilla infection probabilities illustrate the risk difference: an unclean Bandage is lower risk than an unclean Sewing Kit, while letting a bleed self-heal has the highest listed chance. The exact number matters less than the operational rule—dirty treatment is a gamble, and “I will just wait until the bleed stops” is not a safe plan.
Stage 1: pain, blur and slow stamina recovery
Stage 1 lasts about 20 minutes in current vanilla. Expect periodic pain sounds, light visual blur and stamina recovery around 50% slower. This is the window where local wound disinfection is the clear treatment path: Disinfectant Spray, Iodine Tincture or Alcoholic Tincture can be applied directly to the wound.
For Stage 1 Wound Infection, disinfect the wound directly with Disinfectant Spray, Iodine Tincture or Alcoholic Tincture. Tetracycline is not the Stage 1 treatment.
Stage 2: the infection becomes systemic
Once Stage 2 begins, the symptoms become much harder to ignore: louder pain, more frequent blur, Fever, shaking hands, severe stamina-regeneration loss, extra Water drain and continuous Health loss. Current vanilla data lists Health loss at 2.5 per minute; a full-health survivor can die in roughly 40 minutes if the Stage 2 infection is not cured.
Stage 2 requires Tetracycline. Topical disinfectant can still affect the wound locally but is no longer the cure for the systemic stage. Take one effective Tetracycline dose, let the medication effect run, and continue the sequential treatment if the disease remains after the effect expires.
Prevention odds: why disinfecting is worth the time
Disinfected status can be lost when a dressing is damaged. Do not assume an item remains safe forever because you disinfected it yesterday; inspect the current tooltip before it touches an open wound.
Stage decision tree
Wound-closing method | Listed infection chance
Unclean Bandage | 5%
Unclean Rags | 15%
Unclean Bandana | 15%
Unclean Sewing Kit | 30%
Let bleed heal on its own | 40%
What you observe | Treat as | Action
Fresh bleed, no infection symptoms | Prevention window | Use disinfected dressing; direct disinfectant can prevent infection if appropriate.
Pain noises + mild blur + fatigue/slow stamina, infection started recently | Stage 1 | Apply Disinfectant Spray / Iodine / Alcoholic Tincture directly to wound.
Fever + stronger blur/pain + shaking + Health/Water loss | Stage 2 | Tetracycline required; stabilize Water/Health while sequential doses work.