Results
Demography
Out of the 156 children screened between March and December 2010, 101 children were enrolled in the study. Most of them were recruited in the summer (Figure 1). Fifty-five children were excluded because of incomplete demographic data or lack of adequate clinical samples. All participants had unremarkable medical histories. Eighty percent (81/101) of the cases were recruited from outpatient clinics, and the rest (20/101) from the emergency department. Contact history was reported in 34% (34/101) of the participants, five at school and 29 in the household. The mean age of the participants was 3.3 ± 3.0 years (median: 2.5 years, range: 21 days-13.5 years). Males outnumbered female by 1.8 to 1, especially in patients with large bullae (p=0.004).