Toxic epidermal necrolysis in early infancy

Abstract

Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a life-threatening bullous dermatosis characterized by the sudden onset of full-thickness epidermal necrosis. TEN is a disease of both children and adults, but TEN in early infancy is a rare event; only two well-documented cases in infants less than 6 months of age have been reported. We report a third case of a 6-week-old infant with Escherichia coli sepsis who received ampicillin and other antibiotics and subsequently developed TEN. Despite the withdrawal of ampicillin and aggressive systemic and wound care, the infant died. The infants in the other two reported cases also died, which suggests that TEN in early infancy has an extremely poor prognosis.