Staphylococcal skin scalded syndrome:
In neonates, young children, and immunocompromised individuals enough toxin
can be produced by a localized infection and released into the blood stream
to cause widespread superficial exfoliation resulting in staphylococcal scalded
skin syndrome. Most individuals seem to acquire neutralizing antibodies to this
toxin during childhood and thus this disease tends to be restricted to the young
or the immunoimpaired. Since the toxin is primarily eliminated through the kidneys,
patients with renal failure may also be at risk. It should not be confused with
the much more serious form of epidermal sloughing, toxic epidermal necrolysis
(TEN), which involves the loss of the entire epidermal surface, not just the
stratum corneum. TEN is a dermatologic emergency treated like a widespread burn
injury and is most often secondary to a drug reaction.