Salmonella Osteomyelitis in Children from the Aspect of the Orthopaedist

Overview

The authors present a group of three children of toddler and preschool age whom they treated during the past ten years on account of Salmonella osteomyelitis (OM). Although the incidence of Salmonella osteomyelitis is associated in particular with pernicious anaemia and occurs in patients with a reduced immunity, children in the investigated group did not Buffer from any other disease. The authors refer to the importance of surgical intervention with concurrent long-term antibiotic (ATB) administration to prevent the development of the bone infection finto a chronic stage. They draw attention to the long interval from the onset of complaints of these patients and initiation of adequate treatment. They emphasize the serious character of the bone infections with possible sequelae and point out that Salmonella OM is a serious infection which is resistant to a number of ATB and called for repeated surgical revisions. Although also netrouc changes of articular cartilages and epiphyses developed, the authors did not observe a more marked axial deviation, restriction of movement or a significant difference in the length of extremities even after an interval of several years although these symptoms are typical for staphylococcall OM.

Key words:
acute haematogenic osteomyelitis, Salmonella osteomyelitis, surgical revision, antibiotic therapy