'Scalded skin' syndrome tied to staphylococcus infection
Methicillin treatment prevents skin changes in mice experimentally infected with Phage II staph, while cortisone, advocated as routine treatment, seems to enhance infection and toxin productionWithin two years, a Rochester, NY, pediatrician saw 27 children with infections that resembled scalded skin.The lesions took at least three forms, ranging from widespread epidermal loosening, to glove-like formations of hand and foot skin, and localized lesions of bullous impetigo.This "scalded skin" syndrome can actually be fairly common, depending upon the prevalence in a community of Phage II strains of coagulase-positive staphylococci, Marian E. Melish, MD, told the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in San Francisco. He said he and two colleagues at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry have:• established the Phage II staphylococcus as the etiologic agent in the syndrome,
• produced an experimental