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Bone infection symptoms, treatment and consequences
contents
- causes
- Where does an endogenous bone infection show up??
- The germ
- symptoms
- Exogenous bone infection
- Acute or chronic?
- When to the doctor?
- tumors
- Paget's disease and Ewing's sarcoma
- bone rheumatism
- What does the doctor?
causes
An endogenous bone infection is often a consequence of disease. Endogenous here means that the infection takes place inside the body. The pathogens infect the bone through the blood - they often affect the bone marrow directly. If the body's defense is already weakened by an infection with viruses or bacteria, by wounds or chronic diseases, the pathogens can easily reach the bones. Typical triggers are inflamed tonsils or middle ear infection.
Toothache should be taken seriously. An untreated inflammation can quickly spread to the jawbone. (Image: Andrey Popov / fotolia.com) Often underestimated and therefore a source of danger due to negligence, are inflamed and untreated teeth. Many people do not go to the dentist on a regular basis and carry around a tooth or tooth root infection for a long time.
Parents should pay special attention to their children: The endogenous form of bone inflammation occurs in them much more often than in adults. Hopefully, it goes without saying that the parents have medically treated middle ear and tooth inflammations of the children. Preventive examinations can be carried out in order to prevent or combat bone infection in advance.
Where does an endogenous bone infection show up??
In an endogenous bone infection, the pathogens form abscesses on bone or bone marrow. In most cases, however, the pathogen attacks the long bones, while in adults it affects the spine. We then speak of spondylitis.
If the external bone tissue is infected, this is called osteitis. A bone marrow infection we call osteomyelitis. However, both bone marrow and external bone tissue usually become inflamed.
The germ
Triggers of an endogenous infection of the bones are mostly bacteria, and especially staphylococci or streptococci. Infections with viruses or fungi also occur, but are rare.
A common cause of endogenous bone infections are bacteria of the species Staphylococcus aureus. (Image: royaltystockphoto / fotolia.com) The Swiss medical portal Symptome.ch writes: "The collective term MRSA combines Staphylococcus aureus strains, which are resistant to various antibiotics. To date (2010), around 6,000 different tribes have been discovered. According to the Ministry of Health, 400,000 to 800,000 patients in Germany were newly infected with MRSA (in 2006). Since there is no general obligation to register and is also not shown on death certificates, all information is based on estimates.
Due to this circumstance, data on the mortality rate are very inaccurate, especially since MRSA usually occurs together with other diseases. Ökotest found between 20,000 and 40,000 MRSA-related deaths in 2006, and the NIDEP-2 study also speaks of around 500,000 infections and 40,000 deaths each year in Germany. The bacterium decomposes tissue and produces pus. The degradation products are highly toxic and are also insensitive to heat. Similar to spore formation, permanent stages can arise. "
These staphylococci can become trapped in the jawbone, for example, in the case of a delayed tooth or tooth root infection.
Attention: A bone infection can lead to blood poisoning, ending in death.
The damage to the bones can sometimes be irreparable. For children, these inflammations are dangerous because the infection attacks the growing (!) Bone. Growth damage can follow.
Sometimes a joint inflammation (arthritis) is formed at the same time. Then the movement is restricted and the pain becomes unbearable.
symptoms
A bone infection is manifested by the formation of pus at the inflamed site. The tissue heats up and swells. Fever can, but does not have to, happen.
Sometimes fistulas are formed, which are junctions with infectious tissue. In children, growth problems can arise if the natural growth areas of the bone are attacked.
Exogenous bone infection
Exogenous means "from outside". The pathogen reaches the bones not through the bloodstream, but especially through an external wound. For such an infection there is an increased risk of open fractures, splinter fractures, operations on bone, screws or plates in the bone tissue.
Certain fractures and surgery on the bones increase the risk of exogenous infection. (Image: VadimGuzhva / fotolia.com) The risk also increases if the immune system of the affected person is already weakened anyway. This may be due, for example, to a transplant, to diabetes mellitus or to a cancer.
While children are more likely to suffer from endogenous bone infections, adults are more affected by the exogenous variant. In the industrialized countries, exogenous inflammations were pushed back a little: they spread especially through inadequate hygiene.
Nevertheless, you should not take the disease lightly. She is difficult to treat, and once she has taken up residence, she often breaks out again.
Acute or chronic?
In the case of bone inflammation, we not only distinguish between endogenous and exogenous, but also between acute and chronic. Depending on how long the problems last and how they express themselves, the doctors define what the infection is. However, there are no exact guidelines for the classification of the disease as chronic or acute.
In general, in acute inflammation, the pain already occurs after three or four days. The bacteria, for example highly aggressive staphylococci, are very virulent.
By contrast, the chronic form is slower and weaker. In contrast to the "attack" of the pathogens in the acute infection, the immune system has partially successfully fought the bacteria. It has a kind of capsule around the
Bacteria are laid, but these are not dead and multiply in the capsule. Typical symptoms of chronic bone inflammation are therefore fistulas, through which the pus expands to the outside.
However, these are not different diseases, but rather different stages of the same infection: Who does not cure an acute bone inflammation, in which it becomes chronic after two weeks at the latest.
When to the doctor?
If there is the slightest suspicion of inflammation of the bone you should consult a doctor immediately. Do not wait or think the complaints go away by themselves. From "alone," that is, with the body's self-healing powers, you are probably making sure that the acute inflammation becomes chronic.
If you suspect an infection of the bone, you should lose no time and see a doctor immediately. (Image: Africa Studio / fotolia.com) The risk of sepsis is high because of the proximity of the bones to the blood system. Blood poisoning is still often fatal.
Conversely, inflammation, which usually means bacterial attack, can be controlled very well with antibiotics, especially in children. One exception is the staphylococci, which have been identified by the Swiss Portal, and have since formed resistant strains.
tumors
Those who suffer from cancer are susceptible to bone infection because of the weakness of the immune system. The bad thing about the story: Those who suffer from a bone infection, on the other hand, are especially susceptible to certain malignant tumors.
However, a correlation between bone infection and bone cancer is not proven. We still know very little about how bone cancer develops.
Paget's disease and Ewing's sarcoma
In Paget's disease, bone tissue builds up and down unchecked. In very rare cases (one to five percent of those affected), bone cancer develops from the pathologically growing tissue. The disease primarily affects the pelvic, upper arm and thigh bones. It is usually an elderly disease.
Easily confused with bone inflammation is Ewing's sarcoma. It is a cancer of the tibia or femur. Affected, even that is unusual for a cancer, mostly children and adolescents up to the age of 15 years.
Those affected suffer from fever and feel great bone pain in the appropriate area. These complaints also occur in a bone infection.
The symptoms are so similar that only the x-ray shows what we are dealing with. The Ewing's sarcoma is very dangerous: the tumor firstly destroys the bone, which can lead to loss of walking ability. Secondly, this sarcoma is one of the carcinomas that are particularly strong metastases.
However, due to its easy to isolate position on the bone, it can be effectively combated at an early stage - chemo and radiotherapy proved to be successful.
Bone inflammation can also be confused with the "brown tumor," a common term for a cystic bone tumor with hemorrhage that results from hyperfunction of the sub-thyroid gland, which degrades bone tissue. The connective tissue multiplies and blood flows in. A tumor forms, which through the blood assumes a brown color. It is not cancer but a benign tumor.
bone rheumatism
Bone heum is not a bacterial infection but belongs to the rheumatic type. Here, people can develop bone infection without the involvement of bacteria, viruses or fungi. Although we know that the living pathogens are not the cause of the disease, we do not know the cause.
Bone rheumatism usually occurs in childhood and affects mainly the arms, thighs, shins and shins. (Image: utah778 / fotolia.com) Most affected are children and adolescents, mostly from the age of six to fifteen. Girls find it more common than boys, adults are less likely to get sick. The disease manifests itself mainly in the key and shins, thighs and arm bones. Sometimes also spine, ribs and pelvis suffer.
A possible indication is also certain comorbidities, especially psoriasis or the chronic inflammatory bowel disease Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
The illness runs in spurts, which can last weeks, but also months. Sometimes these relapses end with puberty.
What does the doctor?
The symptoms of bone rheumatism, a bacterial bone infection or a bone tumor are similar. Therefore, the doctor examines the blood and performs both an X-ray and MRI examination. Also important is a tissue sample, because it shows with certainty, whether it is a living pathogen.
If the doctor determines by MRI or X-ray that there is an inflammation, but all signs of a bacterial infection are missing, the suspicion of rheumatism is close.
Simple, this diagnosis is not. Often, the doctor suspects bone rheumatism only after several days, if and because the antibiotics have no effect. Patients with the disease therefore often get the correct diagnosis and appropriate therapy late.
If the findings are available, the doctor can "only" treat the symptoms. Ibuprofen or naproxen relieve the pain, in particularly bad cases, doctors also prescribe cortisone. (Somayeh Khaleseh Ranjbar, translated and supplemented by Dr. Utz Anhalt)
Specialist supervision: Barbara Schindewolf-Lensch (doctor)