Impetigo and Staphylococcal Skin Infection – Board-Style Questions

What this deck covers

Impetigo in 18 board-style clinical cases with worked explanations. Each case gives you a clinical vignette, four options, the correct answer, and an explanation of why each of the other three is wrong, with the guideline or textbook it follows named on the answer.

Board-style teaching questions for paediatricians and trainees preparing for paediatric board, MRCPCH and licensing examinations. Written from published guidelines and standard paediatric textbooks, with the source named on every answer.

The 18 cases, in order

1. Golden crust round the nose
2. Two small sores on the arm
3. Now it is everywhere
4. Blisters that burst
5. Deeper than usual
6. Puffy eyes a month later
7. A sudden flare on the arms
8. It comes back at one spot
9. A nine-day-old with blisters
10. Stopping it at home
11. Back for the fourth time
12. Why not the usual cream
13. The other cream in the cupboard
14. Belt and braces
15. Getting under the crust
16. Wrestling on Saturday
17. A week later, unchanged
18. Skin that slides

Diagnoses and management options tested

Across the 18 cases you are asked to choose between options such as: Contact dermatitis from a newly bought facial cleanser, Hydrogen peroxide cream applied to the affected areas, Metronidazole by mouth, given three times daily, Antibodies against the basement membrane separate the skin, Ecthyma, an ulcer through the full depth of epidermis, Nephrotic syndrome arising from a primary kidney disease, Allergic contact dermatitis to a newly started emollient, An allergic reaction to the lip balm she applies, Refer the same day for hospital assessment and cultures, Keep all three of the children away from school for a fortnight, The treatment courses have all been far too short, The cream is absorbed and damages the kidneys, Reserved for resistant organisms, on microbiology advice, Both should continue, as the combination works faster.

Clinical pearls from this deck

• Golden-yellow crust round the nose is impetigo.
• Localised impetigo: an antiseptic cream comes first.
• Widespread impetigo needs a systemic antibiotic.
• Bullous impetigo: a toxin splits the upper skin.
• An ulcerated crusted sore on the leg is ecthyma.
• Skin infection can be followed by nephritis.

Work through the deck once for recognition, then again a week later to test yourself — each question gives the answer and explains why every other option fails.

More from this system: all dermatology case decks · pediatric reference values.