Clinical Characteristics and Organisms Causing Erysipelas and Cellulitis

Yee Gyung Kwak; Nam Joong Kim; Sang-Ho Choi; Seong-Ho Choi; Jin-Won Chung; Eun Ju Choo; Kye-Hyung Kim; Na Ra Yun; Shinwon Lee; Ki Tae Kwon; Jae-Hyun Cho

doi:10.3947/ic.2012.44.2.45

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Kwak, Kim, Choi, Choi, Chung, Choo, Kim, Yun, Lee, Kwon, and Cho: Clinical Characteristics and Organisms Causing Erysipelas and Cellulitis

Original Article

Infection & Chemotherapy

Infection & Chemotherapy 2012; 44(2): 45-50.

Published online: 30 April 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3947/ic.2012.44.2.45

Clinical Characteristics and Organisms Causing Erysipelas and Cellulitis

Yee Gyung Kwak¹, Nam Joong Kim², Sang-Ho Choi³, Seong-Ho Choi⁴, Jin-Won Chung⁴, Eun Ju Choo⁵, Kye-Hyung Kim⁶, Na Ra Yun⁷, Shinwon Lee⁸, Ki Tae Kwon⁸, Jae-Hyun Cho⁹

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.

²Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

³Department of Internal Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

⁴Department of Internal Medicine, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

⁵Department of Internal Medicine, Soonchunhyang University School of Medicine, Bucheon, Korea.

⁶Department of Internal Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan, Korea.

⁷Department of Internal Medicine, Chosun University School of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea.

⁸Division of Infectious Diseases, Daegu Fatima Hospital, Daegu, Korea.

⁹Department of Internal Medicine, National Police Hospital, Seoul, Korea.

Correspondence to Nam Joong Kim, M.D. Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 28 Yeongun-dong, Chongro-gu, Seoul 110-744, Korea. Tel: +82-2-2072-0835, Fax: +82-2-762-9662, molder@unitel.co.kr

Received 30 November 2011 Revised 11 January 2012 Accepted 25 January 2012

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background

Although erysipelas and cellulitis are common soft tissue infectious diseases, there have been a few studies which investigate clinical characteristics and causative organisms in Korea.

Materials and Methods

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who had been diagnosed with erysipelas or cellulitis from ten general hospitals between January 2009 and February 2011.

Results

During the study period, a total of 144 patients with erysipelas and 735 with cellulitis were recruited. The mean age of erysipelas patients was 53.6 years, and that of cellulitis patients was 47.5 years. Diabetes mellitus was the most common underlying disease in both groups. The most common site of erysipelas was the face (80.6%) and that of cellulitis was the lower extremity (64.9%). Culture studies have been done in 31.9% (46/144) of patients with erysipelas, and 41.1% (302/735) with cellulites. Causative organisms were identified in 3 patients (2.1%) with erysipelas and 57 (7.8%) with cellulitis. Streptococcus pyogenes was isolated from two patients with erysipelas, and group G streptococcus from one. Staphylococcus aureus (44.0%) was the most common isolate in patients with cellulitis, followed by streptococci (27.1%), Enteobateriaceae (11.9%), and Vibrio species (6.8%). First-generation cephalosporin was the most commonly used antimicrobial agent in both groups.

Conclusions

β-hemolytic streptococcus and S. aureus were the most common causative organisms of patients with erysipelas and cellulitis.

Keywords: Cellulitis, Erysipelas

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Clinical Characteristics of Patients Diagnosed with Erysipelas and Cellulitis

^anot significant

Table 2

Microorganisms Identified from Cellulitis

Table 3

Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus Species Isolated from Cellulitis

S, Susecptible; I, Intermediate; R, Resistant.

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