Osteomyelitis

Osteomyelitis
Other names	Bone infection
Osteomyelitis of the 1st toe
Specialty	Infectious disease, orthopedics
Symptoms	Pain in a specific bone, overlying redness, fever, weakness
Complications	Amputation
Usual onset	Young or old
Duration	Short or long term
Causes	Bacterial, fungal
Risk factors	Diabetes, intravenous drug use, prior removal of the spleen, trauma to the area
Diagnostic method	Blood tests, medical imaging, bone biopsy
Differential diagnosis	Charcot's joint, rheumatoid arthritis, infectious arthritis, giant cell tumor, cellulitis
Treatment	Antimicrobials, surgery
Prognosis	Low risk of death with treatment
Frequency	2.4 per 100,000 per year

Osteomyelitis (OM) is the infectious inflammation of bone. It may be acute or chronic and can be classified as hematogenous or non-hematogenous. It is commonly caused by bacterial infection, but rarely can be due to fungal infection.

Symptoms are commonly non-specific but may include pain, swelling and redness around the affected area. In adults, the most commonly affected site is the spine and in pediatric populations the most commonly affected site is the long bones. Diagnosis is suspected on the basis of clinical presentation and aided by laboratory and imaging studies and made definitive by biopsy and culture of the presenting area. Treatment of bacterial OM involves antimicrobials and can involve surgery or even amputation. Outcomes are generally good when the condition has been present only a short time.

In humans, the condition was described as early as the 300s BC by Hippocrates. Prior to the availability of antibiotics, the risk of death was significant.