Soft tissue infections.

Abstract

Soft tissue infections represent an emerging health problem with a growing incidence and mortality. The augmented incidence of skin and soft tissue infections is the result of a number of factors, such as the increase of immunocompromised patients, emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens due to the irrational use of antibiotics and the ability of pathogens to adapt to the environment. Successful management requires a global performance that involves a surveillance program, appropriate empirical antibiotic therapy and prompt surgical exploration with extensive debridement of devitalized tissue. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common pathogen and, in the last few years, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) has become commonplace. In Spain, the global incidence of MRSA is 29%; however, there are series in which rises to 46.4%. For this reason, MRSA will be highlighted in this revision.