Most patients with tuberculosis of the cervical spine present with localized neck pain and constitutional features like malaise, fever, anorexia, loss of body weight and night sweats, as early symptoms followed by long tract signs, with or without sphincter involvement, as the disease progresses. However, occasionally these patients may present with a radicular pain as an early presenting sympt...

We conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate factors influencing tissue culture positivity in patients with pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis exposed to antibiotics before diagnosis. Tissue culture was positive in 48.3% (28/58) of the patients, and the median antibiotic-free period was 1.5 days (range, 0.7 to 5.7 days). In a multivariate analysis, a higher C-reactive protein (CRP) level...

Sternal osteomyelitis with bacteremia due to Mycobacterium abscessus is rarely seen in immunocompetent hosts. Routine pyogenic cultures in these cases are often negative causing a delay in diagnosis and treatment. Clinicians and microbiologists should rule out the possibility of infection due to nontuberculous mycobacteria while managing cases of nonhealing culture-negative wounds with conventi...

1 Dodd M J, Grifiths I D, Freeman R. Pyogenic arthritis due to bacteroides complicating rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 1982; 41: 248-9. 2 Crook P R, Gray J. Acute osteomyelotis of the clavicle due to Bacteroides fragilis. North Staffordshire Medical Institute Journal 1981; 13: 66-7. 3 Raff M J, Melo J C. Anaerobic osteomyelitis. Medicine (Balamore) 1978; 57: 83-103. 4 Brook I, Reza M J, Br...

1.1 Spinal infections 1.1.1 History Infection of the spine is a disease with a long, well-documented history. Excavations of human skeletons from an archaeological site from the Iron Age showed likely cases of individual spinal infection (Tayles & Buckley, 2004). Tuberculosis of the spine is often described as Pott’s disease; the pattern of the disease was reported by Percivall Pott in the year...

The complications of staphylococcal septicaemia are many and varied, according to the age group affected. In the adult, acute bacterial endocarditis, pneumonia (which may be further complicated by acute pyogenic pericarditis), osteomyelitis and focal abscess formation in the liver, spleen, kidney and brain may all occur. In childhood, staphylococcal pneumonia with its attendant danger of pyopne...

The complications of staphylococcal septicaemia are many and varied, according to the age group affected. In the adult, acute bacterial endocarditis, pneumonia (which may be further complicated by acute pyogenic pericarditis), osteomyelitis and focal abscess formation in the liver, spleen, kidney and brain may all occur. In childhood, staphylococcal pneumonia with its attendant danger of pyopne...

A 15-yr old boy presented with low backache for 4 months associated with weakness of left lower limb. MRI of lumbosacral spine showed a sacral lesion with intraspinal and presacral soft tissue extension with neural compression. A diagnosis of tuberculosis was considered in the view of high prevalence in this part of the world, however biopsy revealed Ewing's sarcoma. Ewing's tumor of sacrum is ...

Sixteen patients with pyogenic osteomyelitis of the ribs are reported; ages ranged from 3 months to 42 years and 10 were female. Right sided ribs were affected in 10 cases and single ribs in 12. Antecedent causes included empyema thoracis (56%) and blunt chest trauma (19%). Fourteen out of 16 patients presented with discharging chest wall sinuses and five patients had associated swellings on th...

Osteomyelitis is the inflammation of bone secondary to infection with pyogenic organisms. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is usually associated with nosocomial infections and due to its ability to acquire resistance to almost all antibiotics, infections with Pseudomonas pose a great challenge to the physicians. A number of new synergistic combinations have been used in order to treat these organisms and...