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Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffKeeping the skin clean is the best way to keep it healthy. Treat cuts, scrapes, insect bites and other wounds right away by washing the affected areas and applying antibiotic ointment to prevent infection.
If someone in your family already has impetigo, follow these measures to help keep the infection from spreading to others:
- Gently wash the affected areas with mild soap and running water and then cover lightly with gauze.
- Wash an infected person's clothes, linens and towels every day and don't share them with anyone else in your family.
- Wear gloves when applying any antibiotic ointment and wash your hands thoroughly afterward.
- Cut an infected child's nails short to prevent damage from scratching.
- Wash hands frequently.
- Keep your child home until your doctor says he or she isn't contagious.
- Skin infections. In: Habif TP. Habif: Clinical Dermatology. 4th ed. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00018-3&displayedEid=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00018-3--s0060&uniq=213489709&isbn=978-0-7234-3541-9. Accessed Aug. 10, 2010.
- Impetigo. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2010. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05610-6..00018-4--s0510&uniq=213489709&isbn=978-0-323-05610-6&sid=1035787662. Accessed Aug. 10, 2010.
- Browning J, et al. Cellulitis and Superficial Skin Infections. In: Long SS, et al., eds. Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/213489709-18/1035787662/1679/76.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06687-0..50075-8--cesec3_1544. Accessed Aug. 10, 2010.
- Lio PA, et al. Topical Antibacterial Agents. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America. 2009;23:945.
- Waggoner-Fountain LA. Child Care and Communicable Diseases. In: Kliegman RM, et al. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. Accessed Aug. 10, 2010.
- Gibson LE (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Aug. 12, 2010.
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