ABSTRACT
Acute blistering and erosion in a newborn is one of the few emergency cases seen in dermatology. It is important to differentiate between infectious causes, congenital abnormalities, autoimmune bullous dermatitis, immunological skin diseases and skin burns within 24 hours. In this clinical lesson, we present a case of acute skin detachment in a newborn caused by staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS). Our patient was a six-day-old boy who had developed flaccid blisters around the umbilicus, which ruptured on minimal friction. Generalised superficial erosions on the face, hands and feet arose within hours. Based on the clinical presentation combined with a subcorneal blister found on histopathological examination and a positive culture for Staphylococcus aureus on nasal and umbilical smears, the diagnosis of SSSS was made. Our patient was treated successfully with flucloxacillin and gentamicin; the skin lesions healed without scarring within six days.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome/diagnosis , Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome/drug therapy , Diagnosis, Differential , Floxacillin/therapeutic use , Gentamicins/therapeutic use , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Male , Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome/pathology , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS) is a blistering disease of the skin caused by an infection with certain strains of Staphylococcus aureus. In vitro studies have suggested that exfoliative toxins secreted by these bacteria cleave the desmosomal adhesion molecule desmoglein 1 leading to loss of cell-cell contact in the superficial epidermis. In this study we investigated the fate of desmoglein 1 in biopsies of patients with SSSS to see whether the ectodomain of desmoglein 1 is cleaved. Our data largely confirm previous in vitro data. The different biopsies demonstrated the loss of the ectodomain of desmoglein 1 to different degrees. The endodomain of desmoglein 1 meanwhile remained present. Most remarkably, in one of our patients, the immunofluorescent analysis demonstrated that not desmoglein1 but desmocollin 1, another desmosomal cadherin, became affected. This raises the question if other toxins and/or other bacteria than Staphylococcus aureus might also induce SSSS.
