Old-fashioned cleanliness may be the key to treating children with super-bug skin infections, researchers said last night.
US researchers set out to find the best drug treatment for children infected with MRSA in the skin.
Their study proved inconclusive – but 95 per cent of the children they treated recovered within seven days.
The study, reported in the journal Pediatrics, involved nearly 200 children treated at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Baltimore, Maryland.
The high recovery rate led the researchers to conclude the main factor was the standard of care during the trial.
Researcher Dr Aaron Chen said: "The better news might be that good low-tech wound care, cleaning, draining and keeping the infected area clean, is what truly makes the difference between rapid healing and persistent infection."
Children in the study received either cephalexin or clindamycin.
Fellow researcher Dr George Siberry said: "Many physicians understandably assume that antibiotics are always necessary for bacterial infections, but there is evidence to suggest this may not be the case.
"We need studies that precisely measure the benefit of antibiotics to help us determine which cases warrant them and which ones would fare well without them."
Pediatrics March 2011
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