Answer:
In the 1992 article, "The role of the gastrointestinal tract in the development of burn sepsis," Epstien, Banducci and Manders propose that in a burn patient, the gram-negative organisms that are known to colonize burn wounds most likely originate from the gastrointestinal tract rather than from the skin, and arrive there by hematogenous spread following bacterial translocation. The role of the gut in severe burn patients is no different than in any other critically ill patient, and the measures commonly taken to avoid bacterial overgrowth of the gut apply in burn patients as well: judicious use of antibiotics, proper nutrition by an enteral route, limited use of drugs which inhibit gastrointestinal motility.