Week 13 - Topic 1: Skin Infections Flashcards
A patient comes in with a skin rash. What are some important “contagious” questions to ask?
- Have you been exposed to anyone with a rash?
- Have you travelled to a community in an outbreak of contagious rashes?
A patient comes in with a skin rash. What are some “non-contagious” questions to ask?
- Have you gone hiking or camping recently?
- Do you have a history of skin illnesses
- Do you have allergies to foods/medications/other?
- Have you been using new soaps, laundry detergents, topical preparations, new clothes?
What are the 3 lines of attack on the skin?
1) Systemic infections via BBI or toxin-mediated
2) Direct extensions from fistulae or sinuses
3) Direct breaches (cuts, bruises, warts, ulcers, etc)
What diseases result to attacking the skin from systemic infections?
- Measles
- Scarlet fever
- Toxic shock syndrome
What procedure can attack the skin from direct extensions?
Draining abscess
What are macules?
Flat red lesions
How do macules form?
Microbes/toxin arrive on the skin (ex: from the blood vessel) and inflammation/redness is triggered from responding macrophages and neutrophiles (leukocytes)
What is a papule?
Raised red lesion
How does a papule form?
Formation of a macule + invasion of neighbouring tissue triggering more inflammation
What are vesicles?
Papules filled with fluid
What two viruses can cause vesicls?
Herpes simplex and varicela zoster
How does an ulcer form?
When there is a rupture of the epithelium (or the vesicle)
What is a papilloma?
It is the growth and proliferation of a microbe (introduced directly) in the epithelium
What causes a papilloma?
Warts from HPV
What is a granuloma?
A build-up of macrophages
Where do you find Pseudomonas folliculitis?
In the water –> think spas
What does Pseudomonas folliculitis produce on the skin?
Macules, papules and vesicles on the back
Begin as pruritic red macules and end as itchy papules and pustules
What additional precautions should you use on Hot Tub Folliculitis?
Contact
What is folliculitis?
Build of of MO in the hair shaft + inflammation
What is a sty?
Inflammation of the sebaceous gland that opens into a follicle of an eyelash
What is a furuncle?
A folliculitis with pus
What is a carbuncle?
A cluster of furuncles that produce deep seated pus
What usually causes infectious such as folliculitis, sty, etc?
Staph aureus
What bacteria causes acne?
Propionibacterium acnes or spp