Bacterial Skin Infections: Introduction

00:01 Welcome to our lecture on bacterial infections of the skin.

00:08 The skin provides a good barrier against bacterial infections.

00:13 Despite numerous bacteria coming into contact with or residing on the skin, the ability to establish infections is typically limited because of the intact skin barrier that we possess.

00:27 Most common pathogens that affect the skin are staph aureus and β- hemolytic streptococcus.

00:36 So let's see what's the mechanism of skin invasion by bacteria? The bacteria invades the skin through small skin breaks, for example, skin scrapes, punctures, surgery, burns, and other mechanisms that can create a breakdown of the skin barrier. And they can also invade the skin via the hair follicle. So how do we classify bacterial skin infections? Primary infections, which was caused by a single pathogen and usually affects normal skin, for example impetigo, folliculitis, and other skin infections.

01:18 Secondary infections occur in the skin that is already diseased, e.g. intertrigo, acute infectious eczematous dermatitis and any other skin condition that impairs the barrier of the skin.

01:33 In the following series of lectures, we are going to cover the following bacterial infections: Impetigo, Eczema, Erythrasma, Folliculitis, Furuncles, which include boils and, of course, carbuncles, Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome, Cellulitis, Erysipelas, Syphilis and Cutaneous tuberculosis.