What is septic arthritis?
Septic arthritis is one of the rather uncommon variant of arthritis. It causes inflammation in joints producing pus, causing excruciating pain and sometimes even loss of the joint itself. This is very infectious in nature, spreading to different joints in the body. This is considered as one of the worst forms of arthritis as it infects the entire body really fast, causing permanent damage to cartilage and bones, sometimes even causing septic shock which considered fatal.
There is no specific age group associated with this. Anybody from an infant to the elderly could be affect by this. It generally affects adults at the joints which are under a lot of stress due to the amount of weight they bear, like knees. For children, it is most commonly seen at the hip, shoulders and knees. It is common among people who have had joint injury before, but not restricted to them. People with diabetes, cancer, sickle cell anemia, IV drug abusers, alcoholics run the risk of getting infected by septic arthritis. While people with artificial joints, who have undergone joint surgery, receiving medication at the joints or people who have been infected with different kind of arthritis before run the higher amount of risk of getting septic arthritis.
The main cause for septic arthritis is the bacterial infection at the joints. If there is any kind of contamination at the joints, be it by the surgery, or the direct contact of needles during the medication or bacterial infection by blood stream, then the chances of getting septic arthritis is high. In kids, it is generally caused by the bacteria staphylococci while for adults, gonococci, staphylococci, and streptococci are responsible for it. People who are infected with diseases which weaken the immune system run a higher risk for this.
Main symptoms of septic arthritis include severe joint pain. Due to the presence of pus, pain is accompanied with chills and high fever. Along with chronic pain, they may also experience some leakage of joint fluids accompanied with pus. This is generally diagnosed with the help of blood test, physical examination of joints, contents of joint fluids and X-Ray. Be sure to tell your doctor about your medical history and all the treatments you have undergone. Testing for bacterial levels and the count of white blood cells will clearly determine the severity of the disease.
The treatment plan for septic arthritis includes mainly managing the pain and recovery of the infected joints. Since, it can destroy the joints very fast, preventing it from infecting should be the priority. In acute cases, removal of joints fluid in a surgery is suggested. This will ensure that the bacteria are completely gone from the joint and some antibiotics will ensure the removal of bacteria from the blood stream. While recovery from septic arthritis is generally normal and successful, if there is severe damage to the joints then replacement surgery will be essential.