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Penicillin in the treatment of skin sores in children
Author(s) -
Bower Mark,
Bowness Paul,
Shann Frank
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1984.tb108225.x
Subject(s) - penicillin , medicine , pressure sores , dermatology , antibiotics , surgery , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Skin infections are a common cause of morbidity in children, particularly in tropical areas. Cultures from such lesions often grow both penicillin‐resistant staphylococci and penicillin‐sensitive streptococci. In a controlled trial of the treatment of septic skin lesions in 227 paediatric outpatients at Goroka Hospital, sequential analysis of the response to treatment showed that washing plus the intramuscular administration of procaine penicillin was more effective than washing plus placebo ( P < 0.05) after the 25th preference had been decided. When the amount of healing in the two groups was compared, washing plus penicillin was again more effective than washing plus placebo ( P < 0.001; Wilcoxon's rank‐sum test). Because it eradicates β‐haemolytic streptococci, penicillin is a safe and effective agent for the treatment of large, multiple, or badly infected skin sores, even in countries such as Australia and Papua New Guinea in which most staphylococci are resistant to penicillin.