I read in a book called "A cabinet of Roman curiosities" that doctors advised their patients with open wounds not to go to the bath houses, if they did they would probably loose the limb. The baths were notoriously unsanitary according to the book. In another section it quotes a Roman citizen advising if you were going go early in the day.

Follow-up questions. Did the Roman bathhouses have running water? I also remember reading about "hot rooms" (not sure what they were called), heated by burning wood under the floor, did this help to kill bacteria?

Edit: Had to look it up, but this is the "hot room" I was referring to...a caldarium. Thanks for the replies.