We always suspected it and now our worst fears have been confirmed: Amy Winehouse is a bacteria-soaked, highly contagious mess.

The beehived basket case’s rep tells People magazine she has been diagnosed with impetigo – a bacterial skin infection that appears as pimples or scars and is easily spread to other people through touch.

Winehouse’s appearance raised questions this weekend, when she was photographed outside her North London home with her face looking swollen and like it was covered in dirt.

"She's fine," a pal tells People. "She's not hiding away. She's never been one to care what people think."

Thank goodness. At first glance, Winehouse’s swollen, mangled face made us wonder if she recently enjoyed an extended conjugal visit with her lowlife hubby, Blake Fielder-Civil. But there’s a bright side for the self-sabotaging soul singer: she now has an excuse to take drugs (albeit the unsexy, non-back-alley-procured, antibiotic kind).

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