Division SST-ST: Soft tissue (necrotising fascitis, infectious gangrene, necrotising cellulitis, infectious myositis, lymphadenitis, or lymphangitis)

Soft tissue infections must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Patient has organisms cultured from tissue or drainage from affected site

• Patient has purulent drainage at affected site

• Patient has an abscess or other evidence of infection seen during a surgical operation or histopathologic examination

• Patient has at least two of the following signs or symptoms at the affected site with no other recognised cause: localised pain or tenderness, redness, swelling, or heat

AND at least one of the following:

• organisms cultured from blood

• positive antigen test performed on blood or urine (e.g. Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Group B Streptococcus, Candida spp.)

• diagnostic single antibody titer (IgM) or four-fold increase in paired sera (IgG) for pathogen