by Jane Vee

Created on: November 12, 2009

Anyone can catch an impetigo infection. My three day old baby was diagnosed and treated for impetigo infection. I was lucky. The impetigo infection was caught early enough that he didn't have to go into the hospital for treatment. The only reason they considered putting him in the hospital is because he was so young. Of course, the hospital is where he caught the infection.

Impetigo infection is a skin disease. Another name for impetigo infection is Staph Infection. Staph infection can be deadly if it is in the blood stream. An impetigo infection usually remains on the skin.

An impetigo infection almost looks like a breakout of acne. One of the major differences is when the bumps pop the infection is highly contagious. The person that has the infection will get more bumps and then, itch. You may run a fever with this infection.

The only way to get rid of this infection is to treat it with antibiotic ointment. Sometimes oral antibiotics are also needed. The way we got rid of the infection on our son was to wash him with antibacterial soap and loosen up the bumps, or pop the bumps and either wash him or put alcohol on his skin. Following the washings, cream was applied to his bumps and the surrounding area.

Any time his diaper came off, whoever handled the baby had to wear gloves. Imagine wearing gloves around a four or five day old baby. You can't really feel your child. Everyone that visited had the option of wearing gloves or of washing their hands with the antibacterial soap after they held him. If someone was going to hold him outside the family, I made them wash their hands before they picked him up just so he didn't get anything worse.

Everyone that touched him or touched the bedding he was in was at risk of getting impetigo. I continuously washed the mattress he lay on with alcohol. The impetigo infection is extremely contagious if you come in contact with it so I knew everything had to be clean.

Our daughter was two, and the doctor was extremely worried about her. I didn't let her touch the baby until he had cleared up. Every time I changed her I had to wash my hands before I touched her, just to be on the safe side. She decided at two, she wouldn't touch the baby anyway because she didn't want baby germs.

Anyone can catch an impetigo infection. It depends on the carrier's resistance. Anyone can carry the infection and not even know it. The people that person comes in contact with might not be resistant to that germ and catch it. It usually takes a break in the skin for someone to catch impetigo. Although anyone can catch impetigo, it is most common in children between two and six and school age children. It is thought of as being a dirty disease, but it isn't always. Keeping everything disinfected and your hands clean certainly cut the risk of catching it or spreading the disease.

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