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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffAlthough anyone can develop impetigo, children ages 2 to 6 years and infants are most often infected. Children are especially susceptible to infections because their immune systems are still developing. And because staph and strep bacteria flourish wherever groups of people are in close contact, impetigo spreads easily in schools and child care settings.
Factors that increase the risk of impetigo include:
- Being age 2 to 6
- Attending school or child care
- Direct contact with an adult or child who has impetigo or with contaminated towels, bedding or clothing
- Crowded conditions
- Warm, humid weather — impetigo infections are more common in summer
- Participation in sports that involve skin-to-skin contact, such as football or wrestling
- Pre-existing chronic dermatitis, especially atopic dermatitis
Older adults and people with diabetes or a compromised immune system are especially likely to develop ecthyma, a deeper and more serious form of impetigo.
- 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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