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Learn more about Impetigo
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What antibiotic treats impetigo?
Impetigo
- Overview. Impetigo (im-puh-TIE-go) is a common and highly contagious skin infection that mainly affects infants and young children.
- Symptoms. Bullous impetigo causes fluid-filled blisters — often on the trunk, arms and legs of infants and children younger than 2 years.
- Causes. ...
- Risk factors. ...
- Complications. ...
- Prevention. ...
How can you get impetigo?
The following are different factors that increase the risk of impetigo:
- Age – impetigo commonly affects children between the age of 2 and 5
- Environment -crowded places such as school and childcare settings can increase the spread of impetigo
- Temperature – the warm and humid weather during summer season can cause impetigo infections.
- Sports – direct skin-to-skin contact such as football and wrestling
What are two nursing conditions for impetigo?
What other disease/condition shares some of these symptoms? A wide variety of dermatologic conditions may be mistaken for impetigo. They include the following: Herpes simplex viral infections
What skin disease is mistaken for impetigo?
How long does it take for mupirocin to work on impetigo?
Impetigo is treated with prescription mupirocin antibiotic ointment or cream applied directly to the sores two to three times a day for five to 10 days. Before applying the medicine, soak the area in warm water or apply a wet cloth compress for a few minutes.
What to ask when calling a pediatrician?
When you call your family doctor or child's pediatrician to make an appointment, ask if you need to do anything to prevent infecting others in the waiting room.
Can you take antibiotics for ecthyma?
For ecthyma or if more than just a few impetigo sores are present, your doctor might prescribe antibiotics taken by mouth. Be sure to finish the entire course of medication even if the sores are healed.
What is the best treatment for impetigo?
An antibiotic usually cures impetigo. Dermatologists often prescribe an antibiotic that you apply to the skin, such as mupirocin or retapamulin. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved retapamulin to treat impetigo in children as young as 9 months old.
How to diagnose impetigo?
A dermatologist can often diagnose impetigo by looking at your skin.
How long do you have to stay home from school with impetigo?
Because impetigo is very contagious, a child may need to stay home from school for a few days. If this is necessary, your dermatologist will tell you when your child can return to school.
Why do you cover your skin with impetigo?
Cover the skin with impetigo to help it heal and prevent spreading the infection to others.
Can impetigo be treated?
Dermatologists recommend treating impetigo. It can help cure the impetigo and prevent others from getting this highly contagious skin infection.
Can you take antibiotics by mouth?
Sometimes stronger medicine is necessary. Your dermatologist can prescribe an antibiotic that you take by mouth. A few patients need injections of an antibiotic.
Can you get ecthyma from impetigo?
If this happens, you can develop ecthyma. This infection goes deeper into the skin than impetigo. As the skin heals from ecthyma, scars can form.
How to diagnose impetigo?
Doctors typically diagnose impetigo by looking at the sores (physical examination). Lab tests are not needed.
Why do doctors prescribe antibiotics for impetigo?
Doctors use antibiotics to treat impetigo and prevent rare, but serious long-term health problems. Antibiotics can also help protect others from getting sick.
Why do you have to cover impetigo sores?
Keep sores caused by impetigo covered in order to help prevent spreading group A strep to others. If you have scabies, treating that infection will also help prevent impetigo.
What does impetigo look like?
Impetigo starts as a red, itchy sore. As it heals, a crusty, yellow or “honey-colored” scab forms over the sore.
How to keep impetigo from spreading?
These items should not be shared with anyone else. After they have been washed, these items are safe for others to use. The best way to keep from getting or spreading group A strep is to wash your hands often .
What is the most common risk factor for impetigo?
Close contact or crowding: Close contact with another person with impetigo is the most common risk factor for illness. For example, if someone has impetigo, it often spreads to other people in their household. Infectious illnesses also tend to spread wherever large groups of people gather together.
Where is impetigo most common?
Climate: Impetigo is more common in areas with hot, humid summers and mild winters (subtropics), or wet and dry seasons (tropics), but it can occur anywhere.
What is the best treatment for impetigo?
Impetigo is usually treated with topical or oral antibiotics. If you have multiple lesions or if there is an outbreak, your doctor might prescribe an oral antibiotic. There is no over-the-counter (OTC) treatment for impetigo.
How to spread impetigo?
And you can infect others. “To spread impetigo, you need fairly close contact — not casual contact — with the infected person or the objects they touched,” he says. Avoid spreading impetigo to other people or other parts of your body by: 1 Cleaning the infected areas with soap and water. 2 Loosely covering scabs and sores until they heal. 3 Gently removing crusty scabs. 4 Washing your hands with soap and water after touching infected areas or infected persons.
How long does it take for impetigo to clear up?
Untreated, impetigo often clears up on its own after a few days or weeks, Smith says. The key is to keep the infected area clean with soap and water and not to scratch it. The downside of not treating impetigo is that some people might develop more lesions that spread to other areas of their body.
What causes impetigo on the skin?
What Causes Impetigo. Two types of bacteria found on our skin cause impetigo: Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes (which also causes strep throat). Most of us go about our lives carrying around these bacteria without a problem, Smith says.
How many people get impetigo every year?
Although impetigo is a year-round disease, it occurs most often during the warm weather months. There are more than 3 million cases of impetigo in the United States every year.
Can you touch someone with impetigo?
Because impetigo spreads by skin-to-skin contact, there often are small outbreaks within a family or a classroom, Smith says. Avoid touching objects that someone with impetigo has used, such as utensils, towels, sheets, clothing and toys.
Can you spread impetigo to others?
And you can infect others. “To spread impetigo, you need fairly close contact — not casual contact — with the infected person or the objects they touched,” he says. Avoid spreading impetigo to other people or other parts of your body by:
How to prevent impetigo from spreading?
To help prevent impetigo from spreading to others: Gently wash the affected areas with mild soap and running water and then cover lightly with gauze. Wash an infected person's clothes, linens and towels every day with hot water and don't share them with anyone else in your family.
When does impetigo occur?
Impetigo occurs most commonly in children ages 2 to 5. Close contact. Impetigo spreads easily within families, in crowded settings, such as schools and child care facilities, and from participating in sports that involve skin-to-skin contact. Warm, humid weather.
How long does it take for impetigo to spread?
Over about a week, the sores burst and develop honey-colored crusts. Treatment with antibiotics can limit the spread of impetigo to others. Keep children home from school or day care until they're no longer contagious — usually 24 hours after beginning antibiotic treatment.
What is the name of the sore that oozes for a few days and then forms a honey-?
Overview. Impetigo starts as a reddish sore that ruptures, oozes for a few days and then forms a honey-colored crust. Sores mainly occur around the nose and mouth in infants and children. Impetigo (im-puh-TIE-go) is a common and highly contagious skin infection that mainly affects infants and young children.
What are the causes of impetigo?
Children with other skin conditions, such as atopic dermatitis (eczema), are more likely to develop impetigo. Older adults, people with diabetes or people with a weakened immune system are also more likely to get it.
Is impetigo a dangerous condition?
Impetigo typically isn't dangerous. And the sores in mild forms of the infection generally heal without scarring. Rarely, complications of impetigo include: Cellulitis. This potentially life-threatening infection affects the tissues underlying the skin and eventually may spread to the lymph nodes and bloodstream.
Can impetigo cause kidney problems?
Kidney problems. One of the types of bacteria that cause impetigo can also damage the kidneys.
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