Low-dose amoxicillin as prophylaxis for recurrent erysipelas: Is it the answer?

BackgroundWhile erysipelas recurrence remain high, relapse rates have been shown to decrease using oral penicillin V or intramuscular benzathine penicillin. However, a significant number of patients encounter pain or contraindications to IM injections, and oral penicillin is no longer available in Belgium.MethodsThe objective of our study was to retrospectively analyze, in a non-comparative single-center cohort, the outcomes of patients with recurrent erysipelas having received amoxicillin (1 g/day) as an alternative prophylactic antibiotic.ResultsTwenty-six patients were included. Mean age was 58.7 years, with male predominance (69.2%). The erysipelas incidence rate prior to amoxicillin prophylaxis was 4.5 episodes/patient-year. Following the introduction of amoxicillin prophylaxis, the incidence rate fell to 0.15 episode/patient-year (p