After antibiotic treatment begins, healing should start within a few days. It's important to make sure that you take the medicine as prescribed. Otherwise, a deeper and more serious skin infection could develop. While the infection is healing, gently wash your skin with clean gauze and antiseptic soap every day. Soak any areas of crusted skin with warm soapy water to help remove the layers of crust you don't have to remove all of it.
To keep impetigo from spreading to other parts of the body, the doctor or nurse will probably recommend covering infected areas with gauze and tape or a loose plastic bandage. Keep your fingernails short and clean to prevent scratching that could lead to a worse infection. Keeping skin clean can help prevent impetigo. Wash your hands well and often and take baths or showers regularly. Pay special attention to skin injuries cuts, scrapes, bug bites, etc.
Keep these areas clean and covered. To prevent impetigo from spreading among family members, everyone should use their own clothing, sheets, razors, soaps, and towels.
When these items get dirty, wash them separately in very hot water. Using paper towels instead of cloth towels also can help keep the infection from spreading to others. Sharing makeup is never a good idea but even more risky if you have impetigo. Call the doctor if you have signs of impetigo, especially if you've been around a family member, friend, or classmate with the infection. Symptoms include red, itchy sores that break open and leak a clear fluid or pus for a few days.
Doctors typically diagnose impetigo by looking at the sores physical examination. Lab tests are not needed. Impetigo is treated with antibiotics that are either rubbed onto the sores topical antibiotics or taken by mouth oral antibiotics.
A doctor might recommend a topical ointment, such as mupirocin or retapamulin, for only a few sores. Oral antibiotics can be used when there are more sores. Very rarely, kidney problems post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis can be a complication of impetigo. If someone has this complication, it usually starts one to two weeks after the skin sores go away. Learn about post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis.
People can get impetigo more than once. Having impetigo does not protect someone from getting it again in the future. While there is no vaccine to prevent impetigo, there are things people can do to protect themselves and others.
Keep sores caused by impetigo covered in order to help prevent spreading group A strep to others. If you have scabies, treating that infection will also help prevent impetigo. Appropriate personal hygiene and frequent body and hair washing with soap and clean, running water is important to help prevent impetigo.
The best way to keep from getting or spreading group A strep is to wash your hands often. This is especially important after coughing or sneezing. To prevent group A strep infections, you should:. You should wash the clothes, linens, and towels of anyone who has impetigo every day.
These items should not be shared with anyone else. Infection can also be spread by handling contaminated clothing or articles. Suggestions to reduce the risk of transmission to other family members include:. Keep the infected person well away from young babies.
This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:. Anthrax is a rare but potentially fatal bacterial disease that occasionally infects humans. The Western obsession with cleanliness may be partly responsible for the increase in allergic asthma and conditions such as rhinitis. Careful prescribing of antibiotics will minimise the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. Aspergillus is a fungus that commonly grows on rotting vegetation.
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The State of Victoria and the Department of Health shall not bear any liability for reliance by any user on the materials contained on this website. Skip to main content. Home Infections. Impetigo - school sores. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page. Incubation period of impetigo Common symptoms of impetigo Symptoms of severe impetigo infection Diagnosis of impetigo Treatment of impetigo Care of the impetigo infection at home Avoid spreading impetigo Impetigo is dangerous for newborns Where to get help.
Incubation period of impetigo The incubation period is the time between being exposed to the bacteria and the development of signs and symptoms. Common symptoms of impetigo Common symptoms of impetigo include: the skin itches and reddens a collection of blisters forms, commonly around the nose and mouth the blisters pop and weep a yellow, sticky fluid the area develops a raised and wet-looking crust the scab dries and falls off the skin completely heals after a few days.
Symptoms of severe impetigo infection If large areas of the skin are affected, symptoms may also include: fever swollen lymph glands general feeling of unwellness malaise.
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