Is there a link between fungal foot infection and recurrent cellulitis?
Celluitis is an infective/inflammatory skin condition accounting for around 70,000 hospital referrals/year. The legs are most frequently affected and patients experience extreme pain often for many weeks. In addition 18-20% of patients suffer from chronic infection or recurrent attacks. Choice of treatment is empirical. A combination of intravenous and oral antibiotic therapy is offered together with skin care. Recent studies have cited athlete’s foot (dermatophytosis) as a risk factor for cellulitis. Relationships with the immune response, skin vulnerability and stressors have also been reported. This project is designed to investigate these relationships and aims to provide an evidence base for a prophylactic skin care intervention particularly for use by those suffering from recurrent disease. The presence of dermatophytes is established using an agar culture medium. Immune responses are determined from blood samples and categorised by reference to white cell types and numbers, asse
