STAPHYLOCOCCAL SCALDED SKIN SYNDROME (SSSS) AND CONSECUTIVE SEPTICEMIA IN A PRETERM INFANT

Staphylococcal scaled-skin syndrome (SSSS) is a toxin-related epidermo lytic disease that usually affects infants and children under 5 years. We report herein a case of a premature infant who had developed SSSS after an infection of the pharynx with staphylococci and who died of s epticaemia due to pseudomonas aeruginosa. The primary mechanism of act ion of epidermolysin still remains unknown. We demonstrate that acanth olysis is due to an early edema of the intercellular space with separa tion of ultrastructurally unaltered desmosomes.