RT Book, Section
A1 Morley, Keith W.
A1 Pride, Howard B.
A2 Zaoutis, Lisa B.
A2 Chiang, Vincent W.
SR Print(0)
ID 1146119300
T1 Skin and Soft Tissue Infections
T2 Comprehensive Pediatric Hospital Medicine, 2e
YR 2017
FD 2017
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9780071829281
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1146119300
RD 2024/04/20
AB Intact  skin  serves  as  an  effective  mechanical  barrier  in  the  vast  majority  of  healthy  infants  and  children.  Constant  desquamation  continually  removes  potentially  invasive  bacteria;  however,  almost  any  microorganism  can  live  upon  human  skin  under  appropriate  conditions.1  It  is  helpful  to  view  these  in  the  framework  of  transient,  resident,  and  pathogenic  flora.  Transient  flora  are  microorganisms  deposited  on  the  skin  from  the  environment,  typically  non-proliferative  and  easily  removed  by  washing  the  affected  region.  Resident  flora  are  a  select  group  of  organisms  regularly  found  on  the  skin  of  normal  individuals  in  appreciable  numbers  that  form  stably  reproducing  colonies  and  that  are  not  easily  dislodged.  The  resident  flora  consists  primarily  of  gram-positive  species  such  as  Propionibacterium  acnes,  aerobic  diphtheroids,  and  Staphylococcus  epidermidis.  A  few  gram-negative  species  such  as  Escherichia,  Enterobacter,  Proteus,  and  Pseudomonas  are  found  uncommonly  on  normal  skin,  more  likely  being  found  in  moist  intertriginous  regions  such  as  the  groin  and  toe  webs.1  Pathogenic  organisms  are  not  ordinarily  found  as  part  of  the  resident  flora  but  may  persist  via  continuous  replacement  from  either  an  internal  or  external  nidus  of  infection  and  include  a  wide  range  of  organisms,  most  commonly,  Staphylococcus  aureus  and  group  A  β-hemolytic  Streptococcus  (GABHS).