By Bjarne Lühr Hansen PhD, MD and Philipp Skafte-Holm MD, Mentor Institute
Impetigo is very contagious and is caused by a bacterial infection in the skin. The bacteria gest under the skin through small scratches. Impetigo starts as a little red spot that change to blisters that bursts and the typical amber impetigo occurs. Impetigo appears often in the face and on the hands. You can treat a smaller infection, but if there are many impetigo, you should contact your GP the following day.
Impetigo is very contagious and caused by a certain bacterial infection in the skin. The children infect each other when they play together. The disease often appears like an epidemic, i.e. many children have impetigo at the same time.
The bacteria gets under the skin through small scratches. Impetigo often appears with children with scratches in their skin after insect-bites, scabies, chickenpox and child-eczema.
Impetigo starts as a small red itchy mark that quickly develops to a group of small blisters. When the blisters burst, there is a watery wound. Amber scabs then cover the wound. Impetigo often spreads to other parts of the skin, because the child scratches.
Impetigo can appear all over the skin but is most frequent in the face around nose and mouth, in the scalp and on the hands.