Question 1

could an impacted infected wisdom tooth cause a bone infection of the skull?

Accepted Answer

It depends.: Simply being impacted may lead to pain but won't necessarily lead to infection, but if debris chronically accumulates around the gum near the tooth' it can then become infected.  If this happens, or it becomes infected for other reasons, then infection can spread to the adjacent bone of the skull.  It then becomes know as osteomyelitis.

Question 2

how would someone aquire a bone infection in the collarbone? would you have to break the collarbone to get a bone infection? could it happen for no reason? is it common in a 36 year old male? what are the symptoms?

Accepted Answer

: Must be very rare never heard of it in 60+ years. If the infection is blood borne would not have to break it. Consider tuberculosis or rare fungus or STD or cancer metastasis to the area.   Discuss with his Dr.

Question 3

i have a bone infection in my foot, and nasty yellow pus coming from top of foot. what can cause this?

Accepted Answer

Osteomyelitis: Is an infection in the bone. If you are able to see pus coming from bone, i think you should be in the hospital being treated. Pus from bone needs to be drained properly. You should be on antibiotics as well. This is a serious problem which may require bone to be removed.

Question 4

could bactrim be effective for possible joint or bone infection? i had an x-ray taken (waiting on results) because i had some slight pain and swelling around the knuckle area last saturday. believed to be caused by a scratch?

Accepted Answer

: Based on these symptoms, it is very unlikely you have a bone or joint infection. If you do, Bactrim might be effective, but it depends on exactly what bacteria are causing it. If joint infection is confirmed, please consult with an infectious diseases specialist. Good luck.

Question 5

what, other than a bacterial infection, would cause an inch of bone to crumble? a bone infection was evident in an x-ray and mri following the straightening of a hammer-toe. upon removal of the surgical screw, approx. an inch of bone crumbled. the biopsy

Accepted Answer

In : In the absence of infection, one of the causes of bone to "crumble" (i'm not sure what you mean by that term, but i'm assuming there is some kind of bone loss) is aseptic necrosis, where bone, well, rots, if the blood supply to that section of the bone is compromised.  Assuming this is the case here, such a compromise could have been the result of the surgery, tissue manipulation, or the screw used to fixate the area.  It's a rare complication of hammertoe surgery.

But i'm not convinced you really don't have an infection, as infection is a far more common complication following any surgery.  When the bone culture was performed, did they test for aerobic, anaerobic, acid fast and fungal organisms?  How was the piece of bone obtained for culture?  It's entirely possible the piece of bone that was obtained for culture was not a piece that was infected.  Also, if you were already taking antibiotics at the time of the culture, that, too, would explain the lack of any bacterial growth.  One of the hallmark signs of a bone infection is chronic swelling, although given you are post-op, this might not be a reliable sign.

A more specific test for infected bone like a white blood cell labeled nuclear scan is probably a reasonable way to go at this point.  A regular bone scan now would not be diagnostic, since any surgery within the past year would cause a regular bone scan to light up.

It might be a good idea to take an oral antibiotic for a couple of months, given the "clinical" diagnosis of a bone infection.  Modern oral antibiotics have been showed to achieve the same or even higher levels inside bone compared to IV antibiotics, which had always been the "gold standard" in treating bone infections.

Hope this helps.  Good luck.

Question 6

how do you define bone infection?

Accepted Answer

Let explain to you.: Osteomyelitis (osteo- derived from the greek word osteon, meaning bone, myelo- meaning marrow, and -itis meaning inflammation) simply means an infection of the bone or bone marrow.It can be usefully subclassified on the basis of the causative organism (pyogenic bacteria or mycobacteria), the route, duration and anatomic location of the infection. It is the bone you have infection in the tonsiles.

Question 7

can a bone infection heal itself?

Accepted Answer

Bone infection: It is not usual for an infection in the bone to heal itself. Treatments vary widely. Infections in the bone first of all may be difficult to diagnose. Then deciding the time frame -- acute, subacute or chronic-- assists the group of physicians in deciding what the best treatment plans to offer. Patient involvement is very important in the development of the treatment plan.  Seek a medical opinion.

Question 8

what does bone infection look like?

Accepted Answer

Osteomyelitis: This usually produces pain over the area of bone involved, often fever and other signs and symptoms of inflammation.  Diagnosis is best made by biopsy and culture, but the presence of osteomyelitis (bone infection) may be suspected clinically and supported by imaging studies, including ct, MRI and nuclear scans.

Question 9

how serious can a bone infection get?

Accepted Answer

Fairly serious: Bone infections ( osteomyelitis ) is generally curable in its acute form with antimicrobials alone.  It requires about 6 weeks of therapy, however which may need to be iv.  If, however, the infection is not recognized and treated in the acute stage, adequate surgical cleaning up of the bone is required with the antimicrobials to cure. If not an option, antimicrobial suppression may be used.

Question 10

what are the tests for bone infection?

Accepted Answer

X-ray bone scan, MRI: There are few tests will do that one is x-ray but this appear in later stages, bone scan is better because it appear early. Mri another test also could be used.

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Doctor answers about:

Cause of bone infection

A member asked:

Could an impacted infected wisdom tooth cause a bone infection of the skull?

A member asked:

How would someone aquire a bone infection in the collarbone? would you have to break the collarbone to get a bone infection? could it happen for no reason? is it common in a 36 year old male? what are the symptoms?

A member asked:

I have a bone infection in my foot, and nasty yellow pus coming from top of foot. what can cause this?

A member asked:

Could bactrim be effective for possible joint or bone infection? i had an x-ray taken (waiting on results) because i had some slight pain and swelling around the knuckle area last saturday. believed to be caused by a scratch?

A member asked:

What, other than a bacterial infection, would cause an inch of bone to crumble? a bone infection was evident in an x-ray and mri following the straightening of a hammer-toe. upon removal of the surgical screw, approx. an inch of bone crumbled. the biopsy

A member asked:

How do you define bone infection?

A member asked:

Can a bone infection heal itself?

A member asked:

What does bone infection look like?

A member asked:

How serious can a bone infection get?

A member asked:

What are the tests for bone infection?

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