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For most outpatients with acute cellulitis, the cause remains unidentified. Specimens are rarely collected for microbiologic analysis — but even when they are, culture results are usually negative.
To learn more about possible causes, researchers conducted a multicenter, prospective investigation involving adults with a clinical diagnosis of acute cellulitis without drainage who presented to an emergency department participating in the EMERGEncy ID NET research network between April 2009 and November 2011. The 50 participants underwent punch biopsy from both the center of the infection site and a comparable contralateral site. In addition, a needle-aspirate specimen was obtained from the infection site. The specimens were analyzed using stan…