Hyderabad: Osteomyelitis or bone infection is a serious disease. Understanding its symptoms, and its immediate treatment is very important in most cases, especially in acute osteomyelitis, otherwise, the condition of the patient may become severe. Bone infections can also cripple people! Serious bone infections, and their negligence, can sometimes cause physical disabilities in people. According to physicians, most cases of bone infections are critical and their immediate treatment is crucial.
Dr Hem Joshi, a Senior Orthopedician from Dehradun, Uttarakhand, explains that just like any part of our body can get infected due to bacteria, viruses or fungus, in the same way, the bone can also get infected and the infection can spread due to these reasons. He explains that the same bacterias, fungi or viruses are responsible for bone infection, which is responsible for infections in other body parts. For example, the virus which can be responsible for pneumonia or diarrhoea can also be responsible for bone infection.
Osteomyelitis is classified into Bacterial Osteomyelitis and Fungal Osteomyelitis, based on the causes responsible for the infection. For example, Bacterial Osteomyelitis is mostly attributed to a bacterial infection in some other part of the body and it spreading to the bone through blood or other means.
On the other hand, for Fungal Osteomyelitis, the condition of an injury or accident is considered responsible for mild or severe injury to the bone and the spread of infection due to fungus in it. The injury doesn't need to be in the bone itself, infection can spread to the bone from the germ-infected skin, muscle injury or tendon next to the bone. Also, getting a rod or a plate attached to the bone can be a cause of this infection.
He explains that the seriousness of this disease can be gauged from the fact that as the problem progresses, the bone of the affected area can melt or become brittle and easily break. Earlier, it was also considered an incurable disease, but due to the progress made in medical sciences, there are many such techniques, treatments and options available which can be very helpful nowadays.
He explains that in the condition of osteomyelitis, pus starts forming, mostly in the infected area. Apart from this, it is a matter of concern that if the bone breaks during this infection or any diseases occur during it, then there can be a lot of difficulty in treating that problem. On the other hand, if the treatment of this infection is delayed or improper treatment is provided, then this disease can become prolonged. This disease can occur again even after you are cured of it once.
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He explains that TB or Tuberculosis of the bone is also a kind of bone infection. He explains that whatever the cause, osteomyelitis is a very serious disease, although depending on the cause and effect, its intensity and severity can be more or less. That's why it can be of both acute and chronic types.
Acute Osteomyelitis: He explains that in acute osteomyelitis, the infected area starts to rot. In this condition, the infection shows its effect in a very intense form and spreads rapidly and its symptoms are also visible immediately like sudden unbearable pain in the affected area and high fever. This problem is mostly seen in children.
Acute osteomyelitis mostly occurs in those places in the bone which are connected to the joints or near the joints and is associated with the increasing height of children. For example, near the edge where the thigh meets the knee, the bone between the shin of the foot and the heel joint, and the bone near the elbow, etc. Most cases of acute osteomyelitis are seen more in the bone than in the joints. He explains that our bone is a hard tissue, so the condition has a lot of swelling and pain.
That's why such patients, especially children, who have symptoms of high fever and unbearable pain at any place in the bone, are immediately instructed to check for infection in the bone. He explains that in the state of infection, along with severe pain and fever, swelling and redness can also be seen in the affected area. This is a very serious problem and its immediate treatment is very important.
Chronic Osteomyelitis: In this, the problem increases gradually and the symptoms also appear slowly but they appear for a long time. These patients may experience pain and fever regularly. Generally, people do not realise the symptoms of this condition until they start appearing with more intensity. Like TB is considered a chronic infection because it grows slowly and its symptoms also appear gradually. But, most cases of TB are seen in the joints, and cases of chronic osteomyelitis can be seen in both, the bone and joints.
Dr Joshi explains that this is such an infection that if it is not treated completely or if the patient does not complete the course of their medicine, then it can happen again. For example, if a child has this infection and is not treated at the right time to completion, this problem can appear again after growing up or even after getting older. He says that he has come across many such cases where this disease occurred in childhood and this infection recurred as an adult in patients.
He explains that if this infection is not treated at the right time in children, their physical development can also be affected. Apart from this, in case of bacterial infection in the bone, if the treatment is not done on time, it can affect the liver and kidneys and sometimes affect the spinal cord. At the same time, sometimes even disabilities can be caused to the patient.
He explains that in case of infection, a pathological examination is done. A diagnosis like blood culture, counting blood cells (CBC), bone scan and MRI are done. After the infection is confirmed, the victim is given antibiotics for at least six weeks. Which can be registered orally, by injection and by drip in any way according to the condition of the patient.
In acute infection, it is necessary to hospitalize the patient and start their immediate treatment, whereas, in the case of TB and chronic infection, treatment is given depending on the condition of infection in the patient. Apart from this, if the infection increases too much, surgery may also be the last resort. He explains that people, especially children who are anaemic i.e. lack blood, have a serious disease or comorbidity like diabetes and who are already facing any type of infection or are sensitive to it, are at higher risk of getting a bone infection.
