Diagnosis and Management of Skin and Soft-Tissue Infections (SSTI): a Literature Review and Consensus Statement on Behalf of the Italian Society of Infectious Diseases and International Society of Chemotherapy

Skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections, posing considerable diagnostic and therapeutic challenges and resulting in significant morbidity and mortality among patients as well as increased healthcare costs. Eight members of the SSTI working group of the Italian Society of Infectious Diseases prepared a draft of the statements, grading the quality of each piece of evidence after a careful review of the current literature using MEDLINE database and their own clinical experience. Statements were graded for their strength and quality using a system based on the one adopted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). The manuscript was successively reviewed by seven members of the SSTI working group of the International Society of Chemotherapy, and ultimately re-formulated by all experts. The microbiological and clinical aspects together with diagnostic features were considered for uncomplicated and complicated SSTIs. Antimicrobial therapy was considered as well both empirical and targeted to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and/or other main pathogens.