Bone & Joint infection Flashcards
what are the red flags for infection
redness heat pain swelling loss of function
which blood test is good to use in an acute situation?
WCC
how is acute osteomyelitis most commonly spread?
mostly during an open fracture (inoculation) or in children/immunosuppressed (blood stream)
which organism is it in acute osteomyelitis?
staph. aureus
which organism is it in children with acute osteomyelitis?
haemophilus
which is the best guess antibiotic for a child who has early osteomyelitis
flucloxacillin
who do you treat osteomyelitis if there’s pus?
have to operate or will never get better
why are antibiotics not useful if there’s osteomyelitis in devascularised bone?
if the bone is devascularised the antibiotics cannot travel to the infection via the bloodstream
where is the commonest area for chronic osteomyelitis?
tibia
how can someone get septic arthritis?
from inoculation, from metaphyseal spread or directly through haematogenous spread
what will pus in a synovial joint space do?
- pain
- loss of movement
- destroy articular cartilage quickly
what does gas in the soft tissues usually mean?
there’s gas forming organisms in the tissue, usually clostridium
what should best guess antibiotics cover in soft tissue infections?
staph & strep
give an example of best guess antibiotics in soft tissue infections
flucloxacillin
benzylpencillin
which organism is usually responsible for discitis?
staph
