osteomyelitis?

Question

How easy is it for a 9 year old boy to get this and would it be from a previous injury? He has had to have surgery to fix this and I am worried.

Answer 1

Osteomyelitis is a bone infection. It is caused by an infection that happened in another part of the body but then traveled through the blood stream to infect a distant bone. So, your son's bone got it from an infection from somewhere else in the body...not close to that particular bone...but that bone was already weak due to a prior injury.

Osteomyelitis in children, usually affects the long bones but, in adults, it affects the spine and pelvis. Risk factors are recent trauma, diabetes, hemodialysis, intravenous drug abuse and people who have had their spleen removed.

To prevent any future ocurrences, be sure your son sees a doctor anytime he develops an infection. Treating the infection early will prevent it from worsening, entering the blood stream and possibly infecting a traumatized bone.