In veterinary medicine

Veterinary medicine

Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...

, a "hot spot" is one of the many names for a raw, irritated lesion

Lesion

A lesion is any abnormality in the tissue of an organism , usually caused by disease or trauma. Lesion is derived from the Latin word laesio which means injury.- Types :...

 that results from a pet constantly scratching, chewing, and licking at an area of skin.

As the lesion grows, secondary infection from opportunistic

Opportunistic infection

An opportunistic infection is an infection caused by pathogens, particularly opportunistic pathogens—those that take advantage of certain situations—such as bacterial, viral, fungal or protozoan infections that usually do not cause disease in a healthy host, one with a healthy immune system...

 bacteria can occur, causing more discomfort and leading the pet to scratch and chew even more. Other names include moist eczema, summer sores, acute moist alderman, acute moist dermatitis, pyo traumatic dermatitis, or acute pyo traumatic dermatitis. As the name "summer sores" suggests, the ailment is more common in the summer; however, they can occur at any time of the year. Many pets that develop them have allergies; they are particularly common in pet with flea

Flea

Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood...

allergies. However, any sort of irritation to the skin can result in a hot spot.