Cellulitis history and symptoms
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
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Overview
Cellulitis is most often a clinical diagnosis, and local cultures do not always identify the causative organism. Blood cultures usually are positive only if the patient develops generalised sepsis. Conditions that may resemble cellulitis include deep vein thrombosis, which can be diagnosed with a compression leg ultrasound, and stasis dermatitis, which is inflammation of the skin from poor blood flow.
Symptoms
Symptoms of cellulitis include:
- Fever
- Pain or tenderness in the affected area
- Skin redness or inflammation that gets bigger as the infection spreads
- Skin sore or rash that starts suddenly, and grows quickly in the first 24 hours
- Tight, glossy, "stretched" appearance of the skin
- Warm skin in the the area of redness
- Signs of infection:
- Chills or shaking
- Fatigue
- General ill feeling
- Muscle aches and pains
- Warm skin
- Sweating
- Other symptoms that can occur with this disease: