Diagnosis And Management Of Skin And Soft Tissue Infections In Children

Uspal, Neil G. MD
Agrawal, Dewesh MD
Pauze, Denis MD, FACEP
Witt, Michael MD, MPH, FAAP

¹Authors
²Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine and Transport, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
³Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, George Washington University School of Medicine; Director, Pediatric Residency Training Program, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC
⁴Peer Reviewers
⁵Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, Virginia; Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, The George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC
⁶Attending Physician, Division of Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston; Instructor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Date of original release: February 1, 2008

Date of most recent review: January 6, 2008

Termination date: February 1, 2011

Time to complete activity: 4 hours

Medium: Print & online

Method of participation: Print or online answer form and evaluation

Prior to beginning this activity, see “Physician CME Information” on back page.

Pediatric Emergency Medicine Practice 5(2):p 1-26, February 2008.

It's a typical busy ED afternoon, and the waiting room is full. Your first patient is a two-year-old boy presenting with “bug bites.” As you greet the patient's mother, she tells you that she never should have bought a home so close to the water, because she doesn't remember her oldest son getting as many bug bites as the child with her today. You take the history and are surprised to learn that the bites are in the patient's diaper area. After removing the child's diaper, you realize that instead of bug bites he has three areas of cellulitis, one of which appears fluctuant. You begin to consider what the likelihood is that this child has contracted an infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and how you should best treat it if that is what it is….