Polyarticular septic arthritis

doi:10.1136/bmj.39020.401331.68

BMJ 2006;333:1107-1108 (25 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39020.401331.68

Practice

Lesson of the week

Polyarticular septic arthritis

C Christodoulou, specialist registrar¹, P Gordon, consultant², G Coakley, consultant¹

¹ Department of Rheumatology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, London SE18 4QH, ² Department of Rheumatology, King's College Hospital, London SE5 9RS

Correspondence to: C Christodoulou chrisc@doctors.org.uk

Septic arthritis can be polyarticular, and joints suspectedof harbouring infection should be aspirated urgently

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Septic arthritis is an uncommon but potentiallyfatal emergency that can lead to poor functional outcomes ofthe affected joints. The fact that it can be polyarticular inpresentation is insufficiently recognised. We report a caseof a patient initially thought to have reactive arthritis whoin fact had polyarticular septic arthritis. This case showsthe importance of keeping in mind the possibility of septicarthritis and that joint aspiration for microscopy and cultureis of paramount importance.

Case report

A 54 year old man was admitted to hospital withpolyarthritis affecting both knees and the right wrist. Hisonly medical history was of intermittent episodes of sciaticaover the past 14 years. In January 2005 he developed a "badcold" with a headache and sore throat, along with back painand sciatica. Five days later he had severe pain and swellingaffecting both knees and the right wrist. His polyarthritiswas . . . [Full text of this article]