Introduction:
Impetigo is a skin infection in the form of a cluster of blisters that usually occurs on the face, but can infect any area of the body. This skin infection can affect all age groups but is most common with toddlers who develop a rash and cannot or do not understand that they need to keep from rubbing or scratching the rash because it could irritate and make the rash bigger and cause other skin or health problems to occur, e.g. impetigo. It is considered as a common skin infection and the most common in America. Ways to prevent and break the chain of infection is to practice regular hand hygiene and sterilize materials and objects that had contact with the infected area.
Etiology:
This bacterial infection is usually caused by the bacteria staphylococcal (staph) or streptococcal (strep) and methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA) is now becoming a common cause of this skin infection (PubMed Health, 2010).
Staphylococcal is a derived from the Greek words staphyle and kokkos, meaning a bunch of grapes and berries because that is how one version of the infection appears, e.g. skin infection (impetigo), in a cluster of boils and the visualization is of grapes under a microscope (Stoppler, 2012). A strain of the staph bacteria, MRSA, is resistant to most antibiotics, making it difficult to treat (Levine, 2010).
There are several strains of strep infections; however streptococcal pyogenes is the strain of strep that causes impetigo. Strep takes on the form of a chain of bacteria or linked beads under the microscope (Fox, 2010).
These bacteria all seep into the open wound and manifest. Staph can usually live on the skin and can easily invade wounds and grow. This is a way that MRSA infects the body; because ...
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...ions. In KidsHealth from Nemours. Retrieved from
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Fox, A. (2010). Bacteriology - Chapter twelve streptococci. In Microbiology and Immunology
On-line. Retrieved from http://pathmicro.med.sc.edu/fox/streptococci.htm.
Impetigo. (2005). In H. Marcovitch (Ed.), Black’s Medical Dictionary (pp. 356-357, 41st edition).
Lanham: Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Levine, N. (2010). Understanding mrsa infection -- The basics. In WebMD. Retrieved from
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/understanding-mrsa-
methicillin-resistant-staphylococcus-aureus.
PubMed Health. (2010). Impetigo. In PubMed Health. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001863/.
Stoppler, M.C. (2012). Staph infection. In MedicineNet.com. Retrieved from
http://www.medicinenet.com/staph_infection/article.htm.
Addie may have become infected with the resistant staphylococcus bacteria in the playground while playing with her friends.
Another condition associated with the integumentary system is impetigo. This skin condition is mostly seen in children. This condition of the skin is very easy to diagnose and is usually done with the doctor just looking at the patients affected area. The doctor may take a piece of the sore and send it to a lab to get a clearer diagnosis of impetigo.. impetigo ia contagious and can be spread by sharing towels and close contact. It also can be spread by scratching. The symptoms of impetigo are small red bumps around the mouth and nose area. Blisters and crusty sores are also symptoms. The treatment for impetigo is antibiotics. In a mild case of impetigo antibiotic ointment or cream is prescribed. In severe cases the doctor prescribes antibiotic pills to the patient.
Streptococcus pyogenes is a very common bacteria found in humans. It is very transmissible and can be caught through the air via coughing or sneezing. This form of Strep. illness is referred to as Streptococcal pharyngitis, also known as Strep. throat, which can complicate into Scarlet Fever. It is also possible to be infected through abrasions of the skin, which can result in cellulitis, impetigo, or even necrotizing fasciitis. Aside from human to human contact, these bacteria can also be found in unpasteurized milk. There is no vaccine for Streptococcal infections, though antibiotics such as penicillin still work very well against them.
Streptococcus pyogenes, also known as Group A streptococcus (GAS), is a β-hemolytic, Gram-positive bacterium that most commonly causes respiratory disease, including pharyngitis or tonsillitis, as well as skin infections such as impetigo and cellulitis. The organism is transmitted via respiratory droplets or by contact with fomites, and commonly infects young children. In addition to the common clinical presentations associated with S. pyogenes, some individuals develop the postinfectious sequelae of rheumatic fever and glomerulonephritis. Due to the severity of these medical consequences, prophylactic antibiotic use is often recommended for any patients with otherwise mild S. pyogenes infections (21).
Facts of the victim’s case are laid out one by one, as if clues to a whodunit game where the culprit is ubiquitous MRSA. Descriptions are lengthy and vivid, describing everything from the patient’s painful symptoms to gruesome surgical procedures that will upset even the toughest of stomachs. This is definitely not the book to read before a large meal. The book reads like an episode of Frontline, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat until the end.
The first observed cases of HA-MRSA occurred in the 1960’s. Since then, the overall proportion of staph bacteria that are methicillin resistant has increased over two-fold since 1992. (CDC 2013) In 2005, a conservative estimate of hospital patients that developed cases of invasive MRSA was close to 100,000; the number of fatalities was 20,000 deaths. The majority, or at least 65% of health care associated infections is attributed to MRSA. The mortality for hospital blood stream infections such as MRSA is 25% (Klevens et. al 2007).
What is Strep Throat you ask? Strep throat is a sore throat with fever caused by streptococcal infection. Sore throats are most commonly caused by viral infections or other irritants such as smoke, allergies, dry air, or a throat injury, and not by a strep infection. A strep infection causes the throat (pharynx) and the tonsils or adenoids to become irritated, inflamed, and painful. Strep throat is caused by streptococcal (strep) bacteria, most often by group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus (GABS). Other types of strep that can sometimes infect the throat are groups C and G strep bacteria. How the strep infection is spread? Strep throat can be passed from person to person. When a person infected with strep throat breathes, coughs, or sneezes, tiny droplets containing the strep bacteria are released into the air and are breathed in by other people.
Even though S. aureus is mainly associated with food poisoning, the bacterium can penetrate the skin or other mucous membranes to invade a range of tissues which will cause a variety of infections. Superficial infection of the skin can cause boils, impetigo, styes (infection of the glands or hair follicles of the eyelids), folliculitis, and furnacles. All of these infections are charac...
... and quickly grow. Secondly, invasins help the bacteria spread in the host’s tissues. An invasion is a protein that acts locally to damage host cells to facilitate the growth and spread of the pathogen. More simply, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogens have a small army of invasins that basically attack the host very quickly and spread the bacteria out far – into the blood and organs. Another virulence factor of both Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogens is their cellular secretions. The secretions include antigens, enzymes, and toxins that assist with various functions needed to feed the bacteria and fend off the host’s immune defences.
Impetigo is a bacterial skin infection characterized by the eruptions of superficial pustules and formation of thick yellow crusty sores. It is highly contagious and can occur anywhere on the body, especially in exposed areas. The two different types of Impetigo are Bullous Impetigo, which are large blisters, and Non-Bullous Impetigo, which are crusted over blisters. Non-Bullous Impetigo is the most common type. Both types require contact precautions because they can be transmitted via physical contact with anyone who has it, sharing the same clothes, bedding, towels, etc... Because of the way young children proceed with their lifestyles, touching everything within their reach, the primary age groups targeted with this infection are, in fact, young children. It is most common on their facial area, mainly around their noses and mouths, but sometimes impetigo will appear on their arms and legs.
Necrotizing fasciitis is caused most commonly by Streptococcus pyogenes, group A streptococcus, which is the same bacteria that causes common strep throat 8.
On Earth bacteria has lived for many of billions of years, while evolving and adapting, it is now thriving in every environment on Earth including the farthest corner of the Earth to the deepest depth of the Ocean (Bacteria). One of these bacteria is staphylococcus aurues that cause Impetigo along with many of other things. Impetigo is a highly contagious skin infection. So what exactly is impetigo, how is it spread, who gets it, what is the treatment and how do we prevent it?
Society for Microbiology. (2013, October 24). Copious community-associated MRSA in nursing homes. ScienceDaily. Available at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131024121800.htm Accessed February 15, 2013
Impetigo can occur in the bullous and nonbullous forms. Winn et al. (2006) stated it is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the superficial layers of the epidermis. Impetigo is caused by S.aureus in 80-90% of cases and in 10-20% of cases by S.pyogenes (p. 634). Nonbullous impetigo is caused by a host response to the bacterial infection, whereas a staphylococcal toxin causes bullous impetigo (Cole and Gazewood, 2007, p. 859). Nonbullous impetigo is more common and accounts for approximately 70% of reported impetigo diagnoses as described by (Cole and Gazewood, 2007, p. 859). In the same article Cole and Gazewood (2007) go on to describe the pathophysiology of nonbullous impetigo which starts as a single papule or red macule that rapidly turns into a vesicle. The vesicle breaks easily and forms an erosion of skin, soon after the liquid matter dries and forms a characteristic honey-colored crust that may be pus-like (p 859-860). Impetigo seems to be overwhelmingly spread by autoinoculation and tends to affect areas subject to environmental trauma, such as the extremities or the face as seen in the case of the patient described above (Cole and Gazewood, 2007, p. 859-860). In 2003, Brown, Shriner, Schwartz, and Janniger, stated, patients can easily auto inoculate themselves and pass the infection to others after excoriating an infected site. This allows a rapid distribution of infection, especially in places that have a high population of children such as schools and daycare. Children normally are normally infected through contact with other children, but fomites are another infection source as well. When adults are infected, they usually develop impetigo from contact with children or adults but can also contract an infection...
Engelkirk & Burton (1979) state that bacteria can reproduce asexually by simple division of cells and some bacteria reproduce sexually by conjunction. A bacterium is a waste producer of products and secretions. This allows pathogens to invade their hosts to cause disease some of these harmful diseases are Scarlet fever, an acute illness, characterized by a reddish skin rash, which is caused by systematic infection with the bacterium streptococcus. St. Anthony’s Fire is another bacterial disease. “St. Anthony’s Fire which is an acute superficial form of celluitus involving the dermal lymphatic, usually caused by infection with streptococci and chiefly characterized by a peripherally spreading hot, bright red, oedematous.