What is bone and joint infection?

If bacteria enter the body, they can find their way to the musculoskeletal system, leading to infection. Bone and joint infections, also known as musculoskeletal infections, occur most commonly in toddlers and young children. They often occur in the bones and joints of the arms and legs. An infection of the bone is called osteomyelitis and septic arthritis refers to a joint infection.

Why does osteo-articular infection require treatment?

It is important to recognize and treat bone and joint infections because they can:

• Spread to the blood and other organs causing life-threatening illness
• Damage growth plates, bones, and joints
• Cause chronic arthritis and bone fractures

How do we treat bone and joint infections?

If your child has a bone or joint infection, he or she needs to be treated by an experienced pediatric infectious disease specialist as well as a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon. If infections are identified and treated early, most children have a good outcome.

Urgent debridement and decompression of the bone or the joint(arthrotomy) need to be done so that the pressure inside the bone or joint is relieved and we can isolate the organism (bug) causing the infection and provide specifically targeted antibiotics.

Post-operatively after the decompression, the child is treated with intravenous (IV) antibiotics during a short hospital stay. After leaving the hospital, most children take oral antibiotics, usually for several weeks.

Children with bone and joint infections should have long follow-ups till skeletal maturity with a pediatric infectious disease specialist and a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon.