Septic arthritis is an infection in a joint. Bacteria, or less commonly fungi, can spread from other infected areas in your body to the joint. Sometimes bacteria infect only the joint, leaving other areas of your body unharmed.
In septic arthritis, germs infiltrate the joint and damage it, causing severe pain. Bacteria most commonly target your knee, though other joints can be affected by septic arthritis, including your ankle, hip, wrist, elbow and shoulder.
People taking medications for other types of arthritis may not feel severe pain with septic arthritis, since those medications may mask the pain and fever.
The joints of your arms and legs are most commonly affected by septic arthritis. In rare cases other.
Septic arthritis can occur at any age. When considering children, it occurs at a higher rate in those under 3 years of age, with the hip, knee and ankle being the most common joints affected. From age 3 to adolescence, Septic arthritis is uncommon, at which point incidence will increase again. This is due partly to the incidence of STI based Septic arthritis (such as gonococcal arthritis in females with cervical.
Septic arthritis may affect any joint but is most frequently found in the knee, hip, shoulder, wrist, elbow, and finger joints. Usually only one joint will be affected but, in some cases, there may be more than one. This condition needs to be diagnosed and treated quickly because it can destroy joints in a short period of time.
Septic arthritis is an uncommon cause (less than 5%) of acute inflammatory monoarthritis. It is important to distinguish these patients from the majority of patients with monoarthritis to initiate prompt appropriate antibiotic therapy.
Septic arthritis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis can present very similarly to an acute flare of the disease. Septic arthritis in these patients can also be insidious in presentation as some of these patients may be on corticosteroids. In a series, fever and constitutional symptoms were often absent, and only 56% of cases had peripheral leukocyte count elevation. Use of corticosteroids, cytotoxic drugs, and impaired host defenses including decreased chemotaxis and complement levels predispose patients with rheumatoid arthritis to infection.
Most commonly, septic arthritis affects a single joint, but occasionally more joints are involved. The joints affected vary somewhat depending on the microbe causing the infection and the predisposing risk factors of the person affected. Septic arthritis is also called infectious arthritis.
Septic arthritis can strike any age group, including infants and children. In adults, it most commonly affects weight-bearing joints such as the knee, while in children it is more common in the shoulders, hips, and knees. Risk factors include patients diagnosed with chronic rheumatoid arthritis, certain systemic infections, certain types of cancer, diabetes, sickle cell anemia, or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), IV drug abusers and alcoholics, and patients with artificial (prosthetic) joints.
Traditionally, the diagnosis of septic arthritis was based on clinical assessment and prompt arthrocentesis. However, the clinical picture may be obscured by multiple confounding factors and a paucity of specific findings especially for the deep joints, ie. the hip or shoulder. Imaging can be used to confirm the diagnosis of septic arthritis and more importantly, imaging findings suggestive of septic arthritis can direct the clinician to a diagnosis that may not have been considered.
Antibiotics alone may not get rid of septic arthritis. The fluid in the joint may need to be drained at least once a day to remove the pus. This can be done using a large needle. In larger joints such as the knee, arthroscopy may also be used to wash the joint out and remove dead or damaged tissue. Surgery may be necessary to drain and clean joints such as the hip and shoulder. Surgery may also be necessary in joints with bone infections and in joints where the infection can't be easily controlled.
