why choose us

Course: Cutaneous Anthrax

CME Credits: 1.00

Released: 2022-08-17

A 1-year-old boy was brought to the pediatric emergency department with complaints of a painless reddish skin lesion on the left buttock for 7 days. The lesion began as a small erythematous discrete papule, which became vesicular and enlarging rapidly. After 5 days, the center of the lesion became necrotic. The patient had no history of open wounds or prior trauma. He had a fever for 2 days initially, which then subsided; no other systemic complaints were noted. No other family member was affected, and there was no history of any contact with infected cattle or sheep. On examination there was an oozing, violaceous, edematous plaque with central eschar and surrounding edema (). No local lymphadenopathy, warmth, or tenderness were noted. A gram stain from the eschar and vesicle fluid revealed the presence of large and thick boxcar-shaped gram-positive bacilli. A diagnosis of cutaneous anthrax was made, and the child was administered treatment with ciprofloxacin, 150 mg, twice daily, along with benzylpenicillin, 700,000 units, every 4 hours, for 10 days, after which the clinical symptoms improved.


To identify the key insights or developments described in this article


View Full Course