Skin infections Flashcards
What is folliculitis? What is it mostly caused by? Tx?
- Folliculitis
- inflammation/infection of the hair follicle
- Mostly caused by staph>strep
- Erythematous pustule involving the hair follicle
- Treat with warm compress - avoid systemic abx.
What are furnuncles? What usually causes them? Treatment?
- Furnuncles are boils
- Usually involve entire hair follicle and surrounding soft tissue
- Single abscess
- Staph aureus is the usual organism
- Treat with I&D and warm compress
-
Abx
- Keflex (cephalexin) - non MRSA
- Doxycylcine - good MRSA coverage
- tetracycline
What are carbuncles? What usually causes them? Tx?
- Carbuncles are a coalesence of furnuncles
- Multiple drainage points
- mainly casued by staph aureus
- Tx: I&D and systemic abx
- Cefalexin (1st gen cephalosporin) and trimethoprim/sulfamethaoxazole (Batrim) (Sulfas, cover gram - and MRSA coverage)
- Follow up 1-3 days and then weekly.
- Pus under pressure!
What is erysipelas? what usually causes it? Most common portal of entry? Treatment?
- Infection of the dermis
- Usually caused by B-hemolytic strep
- Erythema clasically shiny, well demarcated
- Fever, chills common
- Facial cheek is common site of infection
- Treatment
- Vancomycin 15mg/kg
- follow up? –> going to be admitted into the hospital.
What is cellulitis? What is it usually caused by? Most common portal of entry? How do you treat it?
- Cellulitis is a diffuse spreading infection of the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous (connective tissue)
- Usually present on the lower leg
- Most commonly due to gram positive cocci - staph and strep
-
Most common portal of entry - Toe fissures or tinea pedis
- Can be very seious in diabetic patients
- can turn pre-septic and septic quickly
- Can be very seious in diabetic patients
-
Can affect all layers of the skin
- Generally starts as small patch of eythema with spread over hours
- Symptoms
- swelling, pain, erythema
- septic appearence
- fever, not feeling well.
- treatment?
- Good empiric choices for outpatient
-
Keflex (cephalexin) 1st generation cephalosporin. Non MRSA
- or ceftaroline (Teflaro) for MRSA
- Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (bactrim) Sulfa- MRSA coverage
- Penicillins
- B-lactam inhibitors (Augmentin Amox/Clav, Zosyn Piper/tazo, Unasyn amp/sulbactam)
- Tetracyclines - Doxycycline (MRSA)
- Vancomycin (MRSA) - glycopeptide
- Azithromycin (Macrolide) - Sanford
- outpatient follow up in 1-2 days - want quickly as possible because of posibility of going septic
-
Keflex (cephalexin) 1st generation cephalosporin. Non MRSA
- Patient is hospitalized?
- Pt hospitalized when becomes febrile
- Good empiric choices for outpatient
What are necrotizing skin and soft tissue infections? What is first line treatment?
- Necrotizing fasciitis
- Fournier’s gangrene - gangrene of the genetalia
- Gas gangrene
- Surgical emergenceis - treatment for all of the above is SURGERY FIRST THEN ABX
Necrotizing fasciitis, def, how do you diagnose? What layer of tissue does it spare? Treatment?
- Definition
- Very rapid progression of an infection that progresses minutes to hours.
- Quickly and progressively destroys subcutaneous fascia
- “flesh eating”
- Bullae, and crepitus of the skin from gas under skin
- SPARES MUSCLE - can help you ddx between gas gangrene.
-
Cause
- Usually group A strep (Mprotein) but can be staph aureus)
- tx?
- SURGERY FIRST AND THEN ABX
Fournier’s Gangrene, def, cause, treatment?
- Definition
- another necrotizing skin infection.
- Rapidly progressing cellulits/gangrene of the penis and scrotum - can happen in women too
- diabetes, alcohol useage, HIV, obesity, and malginancy predispose people to the infection
- s/s
- Insidious onset with itching and discomfort near portal of entry - perianal.
- pain out of proportion to appearnce at first
- Worsening - pain subsides due to necrosis of nerve tissue during progression
- cause
- Usually polymicrobial with high likelihood of anaerobic organisms
- tx
- surgical and then broad spectrum abx until cultures are back
- vancomycin (glycopeptide), piperacillin/tazo (Beta-lactam inhibitor, Zosyn), metronidazole (Nitroimidazole, flagyl)
- surgical and then broad spectrum abx until cultures are back
Gas gangrene, def, cause, treatment?
Def
- Also known as clostridial myonecrosis
- Progressively destroys subcutanoeus fascia, fat and muscle
s/s
- often acute presentation with severe pain-sometimes painless due to nerve damage- crepitus
cause
- Usually caused by clostridium perfringens
- Often from traumatic wounds/perforation of bowel
Staph Aureus pathogenicity, bacterial surface components and extracellular proteins.
- Bacterial surface components
- capsular polysaccharide
- protein A
- clumping factor
- fibronectin binding protein
- Extracellular proteins
- coagulase
- hemolysins
- enterotoxins
- toxic -shock syndrome toxin
- exfloiatins
-
Pranton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)
- Unique to MRSA, allows it to penetrate intact skin.
Staph Aureus Resistance mechanisms
- By definition - harbors mecA gene for methicillin resistance
- mecA gene codes for a different type of penicillin -binding protein
- This PBP allows continual synthesis of cell wall in presence of B-lactam antibiotics
- Only 5th gen cefalosporins have ability to kill MRSA in cefalosporin family.
Traditional risk factors for MRSA
- Previous hospital stay
- Prolonged length of stay prior to infection
- surgical procedures (2-3 months)
- Enteral feeding
- Prior antibiotic use
- 3rd generation cephalosporins
- fluroquinolones
- vancomycin
Clincal concerns with CA-MRSA. Populations with CA-MRSA
- They cause syndromes not typically associated with S.aureus
- Necrotizing fasciiits
- purpura fulminans
- necrotizing pneumonia
- larger community outbreaks - especially in specific populations.
- Populations
- children, jail, military, native americans and native alaskans, homeless populations, football teams, wrestlers, gymnats, fencing teams, MSM, HIV patients, Injectio ndrug users
What syndromes are most CA-MRSA infections associated with?
- Skin and soft tissue 77%
- wound (traumatic) - 10%
- urinary tract infection - 4%
- sinusitis - 4%
- bacteremia 3%
- pneumonia 2%
What is an unfortunate mistake in treatment that people used to treat pediatrics that had MRSA?
All treated with cephalosporin which the organism was resistant to. this delayed the use of the correct antibitoic and may have contributed to their deaths.