Table of Contents
- Overview
- Symptoms
- Treatment
- Prevention
Scalded skin syndrome is a skin infection in which the skin becomes damaged and sheds.
Alternative Names
Ritter disease; Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSS)
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Scalded skin syndrome is caused by infection with certain strains of bacteria in the Staphylococcus family. During the infection, the staphylococci produce a poison that causes the skin damage. The damage creates blisters as if the skin were scalded.
Scalded skin syndrome is found most commonly in infants and children under the age of 5.
Review Date: 12/01/2009
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of
General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington
School of Medicine; Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in
Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division
of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts
General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical
Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
