Impetigo

An acute inflammatory skin-disease characterized by one or more pea-sized or finger-nail sized, discrete, rounded, and elevated firm pustules, unattended, as a rule, by itching or other subjective symptoms. The pustules are rounded, with thick walls, and are surrounded by areolae. They appear suddenly, and come out one after another during the first week of the attack, attain full size, and then undergo absorption or crusting. No scar or pigmentation fol lows. The disease is likely to occur in children. I. annua. See Aleppo Boil . I. capitis. Same as Eczema capitis. I. contagiosa, Porrigo contagiosa; an acute, inflammatory, contagious disease, due to the presence of a microorganism, and characterized by the appearance of vesico-pustules or blebs, that dry into flat, straw-colored, granular-looking crusts. The disease occurs usually in children. The vesicles vary in size from minute points to that of a quarter of a dollar, and the contents, at first serous, become seropurulent, and then dry up. The disease is most prone to attack the face and hands. I., Duhring's, differs from the foregoing by being non-infectious. See Diseases, Table of. I. erysipelodes, an old term for Eczema pustulosum, with deeper inflammation than usual. I. granulata. Same as Pediculosis. I. her pet i form is, Herpes pycemicus; a very rare disease of the skin, characterized by the formation of superficial miliar' pustules, that may be discrete, but are usually closely set. The contents of the pustules are at first opaque, but become greenish-yellow, and dry up into dirty brown crusts. The disease spreads until the whole surface is covered with swollen, crusted, and excoriated patches. It develops first on the inner side of the thighs, and about the groins, navel, breasts, and axillae, and is mainly seen in pregnant women. The termination is fatal, as a rule. I. rodens, an old term for a carcinomatous disease of the skin. I. scabida, an old term for Eczema pustulosum, with unusually thick crusting. I. spars a, an old term for small, scattered patches of Eczema pustulosum. I., Syphilitic. See Syphilid, Impetiginous.