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
Affiliations
Philip W. Lam
Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Division of Infectious Diseases, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada; Correspondence to: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada.
Adrienne K. Chan
Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Division of Infectious Diseases, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
N.Y Elizabeth Chau
Department of Microbiology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
Shawn T. Clark
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Robert A. Kozak
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Microbiology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
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.
