Impetigo

Impetigo is a skin infection caused by Streptococcus (strep) and Staphylococcus (staph) bacteria. The infection is common in children and occurs when the bacteria gets into scrapes and insect bites. Impetigo often occurs in the summer. Some people think that children get impetigo because they have not been washed properly. However, impetigo does not result from a lack of cleanliness.

Causes of Impetigo

This vesiculopustular eruptive disorder is contagious and spreads most easily among infants, young children, and the elderly. Impetigo can complicate chicken pox, eczema, or other skin conditions marked by open lesions.

Risk factors are poor hygiene, anemia, and malnutrition.

Treatment for Impetigo

Generally, treatment consists of systemic antibiotics (usually penicillin, or erythromycin for patients who are allergic to penicillin), which also help prevent glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the kidney that can have serious complications).

Therapy also includes removal of the exudate by washing the lesions two to three times a day with soap and water, or for stubborn crusts, warm soaks or compresses of normal saline or a diluted soap solution before application of topical antibiotics.

Topical antibiotics are less effective than systemic antibiotics. The patient is urged not to scratch since this exacerbates the impetigo. Parents are advised to cut the child's fingernails.

What can parents do?

Watch your child for signs of impetigo if another child has it.

If you think your child has impetigo, contact your physician for diagnosis and treatment.

Make sure that all household members wash their hands thoroughly with soap and running water after touching infected skin. Family members should not share face cloths or hand and bath towels.

If your child has impetigo, he or she should not return to the child care facility or school until the antibiotic prescribed by your physician has been taken for at least one full day. It is important for the child to take all the medication prescribed by the physician, even after the signs of infection have gone away.