Impetigo is an infection with a germ called golden staph.
This is the commonest cause of skin infections of a11 kinds, and the most frequent of these in children is impetigo.
Many people have heard of golden staph and associate it with serious infection.
This can certainly be the case, but it just as often causes relatively harmless skin problems.
Impetigo is highly infectious, and is usually caught from other children.
It often involves several members of a family at once.
It can be recognised as crusty or scabby sores which have a yellowish look about them.
They are not as a rule terribly painful but can be itchy.
Sometimes impetigo causes big blisters, particularly in babies.
The commonest sites for the sores are the face and around the groin area, but they can occur anywhere.
It's not unusual for impetigo to occur when there is another skin problem present, such as head lice, scabies or eczema.
Treatment of impetigo involves using antibiotics, which must be obtained on prescription from your doctor.
These can be given in either oral or ointment form, depending on the severity of the problem.
Usually clearing up impetigo is no problem at all, but in some cases the golden staph can really get to like you, and live persistently on your skin.
This results in the problem recurring almost as soon as it has been treated.
Such cases may require several weeks of disinfection, not only of the child involved, but the whole family as well, as more often than not other members will also be infected.
If this is happening to your child, you should see your doctor.