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Acute osteomyelitis in children in Ibadan, Nigeria. Is surgical decompression necessary?
Abstract
A total of 17 Children with acute osteomyelitis presenting to division of orthopaedics and trauma surgery is presented. The male:female ratio is 1:1:3, mean age of 6.12 years. The median time of illness before presentation is 8 days. The Tibia bone is the most common site of infection (52.9%) while multifocal infection occurs in 35.3% of the patient. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common isolate (47.1%) while Salmonella typhi occurred in 23.5% of the patients, all with sickle cell disease. There was positive bone aspirate in all the patients while all patient had surgical intervention with sequential intravenous - oral antibiotic therapy with an excellent outcome in 94.1%. Surgical
intervention appears to be essential to cure of acute osteomyelitis in addition to antibiotic use.
intervention appears to be essential to cure of acute osteomyelitis in addition to antibiotic use.