Scalded

An infant on a page, captured indelibly as a literal textbook example. His eyes are closed, his hand clenched in a miniature paroxysm of agony. His skin is peeling off every part of his body, shedding in waves as if the poor child had been placed at the center of an oven. It is just a picture to me, a representation of dry symptom and associated syndrome.

He has an infection of Staphylococcus Aureus, most likely acquired in birth, caused by a bacterial flora his mother carried harmlessly. It has colonized his skin, and is producing a myriad of toxins, most notably (in this case) the two variants of exfolatin, a toxin that does exactly what it sounds like. He is burning up and shedding skin, immortalized forever in print, a case study image of "Ritter's Syndrome," the scalded skin syndrome of infants. This bacteria is destroying him, ripping apart his body in an attempt to create a large pool of defenseless nutrients, an infectious strip mining.

He must have been in agony. New to the world, confused by every element, he was born into pain, and most likely expired the same way. He lives on, in a fashion, immortalized as an educational tool. I can't decide if it is important to remember his pain, to note it. You see so many pictures, so much agony and shame. Can I really feel for each one?