Streptococcus pyogenes secondary impetigo due to loofah sponge use

Philip W Lam; Adrienne K Chan; N Y Elizabeth Chau; Shawn T Clark; Robert A Kozak

doi:10.1016/j.idcr.2022.e01395

Streptococcus pyogenes secondary impetigo due to loofah sponge use

IDCases. 2022 Jan 10:27:e01395. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2022.e01395. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Philip W Lam^{1

2}, Adrienne K Chan^{1

2}, N Y Elizabeth Chau³, Shawn T Clark⁴, Robert A Kozak^{4

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² Division of Infectious Diseases, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Department of Microbiology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Loofah sponges have been implicated in skin and soft tissue infections due to their ability to harbor bacteria and cause microtrauma to the skin. In this case report, we describe a case of impetigo and cellulitis due to Streptococcus pyogenes complicated by secondary spread through loofah sponge use. The same organism was cultured from the infected body sites and loofah sponge, and a comparative genomic analysis confirmed that the isolates were identical.

Keywords: Impetigo; Loofah sponge; Streptococcus pyogenes.

Publication types

Case Reports