Systemic Therapy For Skin And Soft Tissue Bacterial Infections In Childhood

Abstract

Skin and soft tissue infections cover a wide variety of benign and life-threatening conditions. Some of them are treatable on an outpatient basis, while others require the use of intravenous antibiotics and surgery. When choosing a drug, it is advisable to perform a microbiological study and base on it to choose the most appropriate molecule from the different classes of antimicrobials. The main pathogens involved in these infections are Staphylococcus aureus and group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus, but enteral organisms also play a role, especially in nosocomial infections. Skin and soft tissue infections have increased in frequency and severity in all age groups. The reasons for this are the increasing resistance of pathogenic microorganisms to many antibiotics in hospitalized patients and outpatients, the growing number of immunocompromised patients and the emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . These facts are relevant to treatment guidelines in order to address the increase in bacterial resistance and the choice of the type of therapy used. For systemic treatment, drugs of choice are penicillin antibiotics, macrolides, cephalosporins, lincosamides, glycopeptides, aminoglycosides, tetracycline group, oxazolidinones, antifolate agents.