Staphylococcal scaled-skin syndrome (SSSS) is a toxin-related epidermolytic disease that usually affects infants and children under 5 years. We report herein a case of a premature infant who had developed SSSS after an infection of the pharynx with staphylococci and who died of septicaemia due to pseudomonas aeruginosa. The primary mechanism of action of epidermolysin still remains unknown. We demonstrate that acantholysis is due to an early edema of the intercellular space with separation of ultrastructurally unaltered desmosomes.