Tropical bacterial pyoderma in Vietnam. An improved therapeutic regimen

Fifty marines and navy hospital corpsmen with tropical pyoderma, a variant form of pyoderma, were treated in the hospital for a period of one week.Staphylococcus aureusand β-hemolytic Streptococcus group A, alone or in combination, were the predominant pathogens present in almost every case. Gram-negative bacilli and fungi not further identified were minor contaminants. Effective treatment in all cases consisted of saline dressings, elevation of affected extremities, and phenoxymethyl penicillin potassium, 500 mg four times a day. One third of the patients with staphylococcal infection were infected with penicillin-resistant organisms in vitro. These patients responded well when treatment was changed to oxacillin sodium in the same dose. Healing was complete in a majority of patients at the end of one week and in all by the end of two weeks. There were no significant complications from the regimen.