Cellulitis: oral antibiotics cured it.

Clinical bottom line (level 4)

  1. Oral antibiotics were effective for initial therapy of cellulitis in children.
  2. A six required hospitalisation or incision and drainage.
Fleisher and Ludwig: Annals of Emergency Medicine 1980; 9 (5): 246-249
Expires November 2004

The study

Case series with ?objective ?blinded outcomes, not adjusted for confounding factors, not validated in an independent set of patients.

Setting: emergency department, university hospital, USA

20 patients (aged range 2 to 12 years; mean 6, 85% male) with clinical diagnosis of cellulitis (upper extremity., lower extremity, facial/ periorbital)
Received oral penicillin, dicloxacillin, or erythromycin at age appropriate doses.

100% followed for one month
Outcomes studied:
  • recovery
  • complication (hospitalisation, incision and drainage)

    • The evidence

    outcome time to outcome number of patients/total number %
    (95% CI)
    recovery one month 16/20 80%
    (62% to 98%)
    complication one month 3/20 15%
    (0.0% to 31%)

    Citation

    1. Fleisher G, and Ludwig S: Cellulitis: a prospective study. Annals of Emergency Medicine 1980; 9 (5): 246-249
    Search Terms: cellulitis therapy
    Contributor: John Epling and Chris Ball, November 2000
    Reviewer:

    Clinical Question.
    Patient children with cellulitis
    Intervention or Exposure oral antibiotics
    Outcome recovery, complications