Bacterial Skin Infections in Children

Objective: Bacterial skin infections are one of the most common causes of hospital admissions in childhood. Our aim was to investigate the frequency and the clinical, demographic and epidemiological characteristics of childhood bacterial skin infections in this study. Material and Methods: The study included children aged between 0-16 years diagnosed with bacterial skin infections. Age, gender, type of infection, location of the lesions, any seasonal distribution of the infections, family history, residence, socioeconomic status and concomitant diseases were recorded. Results: A total of 135 children were diagnosed with bacterial skin infections during the study period. Seventy-one were female (52.6%) and 64 (47.4%) male. Thirty-four percent of the patients were aged 0-2 years, 18.5% 3-5 years, 31% 6-11 years and 16.2% 11-16 years. Six different groups of bacterial skin infections were detected in 135 patients. Thirty-seven percent were due to impetigo, 21.5% secondary pyoderma, 16.2% paronychia, 14.1% folliculitis, 8.9% cellulitis and 2.2% furuncles. Infections were more frequent in the summer and autumn (34% and 36% respectively). Concomitant disease was detected in 9.6% of the cases. Conclusion: Bacterial skin infections are common in children. Most bacterial skin diseases are preventable. Early diagnosis and treatment is important because of the complications. Taking precautions and providing education on sanitation to the public are therefore important and necessary to reduce transmission.