The nurse is monitoring a 2-year-old client with cellulitis that developed from an insect bite on the face. The nurse understands that what is a complication that can develop from facial cellulitis?

An insect bite on the face produces a break in the skin which introduces the normal skin flora (usually Staphylococcus and Streptococcus) to the sterile subcutaneous tissue causing inflammation. The inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue is called cellulitis. Since the infection is in the face, then it can travel from the infected site to the meninges through the cavernous sinuses and cause bacterial meningitis.