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Osteomyelitis (bone infection)

Osteomyelitis · Osteomyelitida (zánět kosti)

What it is

Bacteria reach bone through the blood (children), an open fracture or surgery, or a diabetic foot ulcer; treated late it turns chronic, around dead bone that antibiotics cannot reach.

Symptoms & signs

  • Deep bone pain, worse at night
  • fever (often absent in adults)
  • a child refusing to use a limb
  • swelling and redness over the bone
  • a draining sinus in chronic infection

🚩 Get help if…

  • call 112 / 911 now Fever with shaking chills and feeling very ill
  • see a doctor soon Child limping or refusing to use a limb, with fever
  • see a doctor soon Bone pain with fever after surgery or an open fracture
  • see a doctor soon Diabetic foot ulcer that is deep, smelly or reaches bone

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • MRI and bone biopsy to find the germ
  • 4–6 weeks of antibiotics
  • Oral as good as intravenous after the first week (OVIVA trial) trials support
  • debridement of dead bone
  • removal of infected implants
  • amputation in some diabetic foot infections

Natural & lifestyle

  • Diabetic foot care and prompt treatment of ulcers
  • wound hygiene after fractures

Emerging & experimental

  • Antibiotic-loaded biodegradable beads
  • phage therapy

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Hyperbaric oxygen in chronic osteomyelitis — some studies support it mixed evidence
  • Honey dressings on infected wounds — small studies early / small studies

ICD codes