The impact of treating staphylococcus aureus infection and colonization on the clinical severity of atopic dermatitis

Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, April, 2006

This study is currently recruiting patients. Verified by Children's Memorial Hospital. Sponsors and Collaborators: Children's Memorial Hospital, Society for Pediatric Dermatology, and Johnson & Johnson. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infection is perceived not only as a common secondary complication of atopic dermatitis (AD), but also as a culprit in the worsening of this condition. In addition, the recent development of community acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) has presented a new challenge to our management of AD, both in treatment of acute infections and maintenance therapy. We would like to perform a randomized investigator-blinded placebo-controlled study of children aged 6 months to 17 years with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis with clinical signs of secondary bacterial infection to study: 1) the prevalence of CA-MRSA in our patient population; 2) the relationship of sensitivity of the S. aureus organism cultured from the infected lesion(s) to clinical response to oral cephalexin therapy and severity of the AD; and 3) whether concurrent treatment of S. aureus infection initially with nasal mupirocin ointment and sodium hypochlorite (bleach) baths can result in long-term S. aureus eradication and clinical stability.

Condition          Intervention                     Phase

Atopic Dermatitis  Drug: Sodium hypochlorite baths  Phase IV
                   Drug: Mupirocin ointment
                   Drug: Cephalexin

Study ID Numbers: 12624

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00179959