Infectious arthritis is a kind of tissues and fluid infection of joints that usually gets created du t a bacteria, or maybe fungi or algae. There are chances of fungi, bacteria, or viruses spreading through the bloodstream or because of a nearby joint infection. This could end up in pain, fever, and swelling within few hours to few days. The physician in such a case would withdraw joint fluid with a needle and test and start doses of antibiotics immediately.

Two types of infectious arthritis exist:

• Acute
• Chronic

Acute infectious arthritis

Acute infectious arthritis is caused by bacteria and begins rapidly. Most of this type of arthritis is acute. Both healthy people and people with acute risk factors can be affected by this condition. The essential ingredient in the joint, cartilage can get damaged or destroyed within hours or days.

There are times when arthritis develops in people with infections not in joints or bones also. This kind of arthritis is reaction to certain infections and is termed as reactive arthritis. In this pattern of the illness joint gets inflammation but isn’t infected actually.

Chronic infectious arthritis

This begins gradually over the weeks and actually only a few limited cases are chronic. It often affects people with high factor of risk. Most commonly infected joins are the knee, elbow, wrist, hip, and shoulders. Most of the fungal, microbacterial, and bacterial infections affect just one joint, or on occasions several joints. For instance, the bacteria causing Lyme disease most of the time affect the joints in the knee. Gonococcal bacteria, certain viruses like the hepatitis, and occasionally certain other types of bacteria can cause infection to some or many joints simultaneously.

Causes

Organisms causing infection, primarily bacteria, may spread from the bone joints to the nearest infection or infected wound, or even through a bloodstream. A certain joint could be infected directly in case it is contaminated when surgery happened or while receiving injection or simply through injury, like that of a bite wound from a person, a dog, cat, or rat.

Acute arthritis is caused by viruses and bacteria. Different bacteria can usually infect a joint, however, in case of acute arthritis, the bacteria depend on age of the person:

• Newborns have the tendency to suffer from E.coli and other kinds of bacteria termed as gram-negative bacilli, and staphylococcus aureus.
• For infants and young children generally suffer from staphylococcus aureus, gram-negative bacilli, plus kingella kingae.
• For older children also adults the infection could be gonococci, streptococci, etc.

There are several other factors that cause acute infectious arthritis like, a past history of joint infection, an artificial joint surgery, using needles for injecting drugs, chronic illness like liver disorders, lupus, diabetes, older age, alcoholism, behaviours increasing risk of diseases that are sexually transmitted, disorders causing the current damage in joint like osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and arthritis that is caused by certain injuries. It could also be due to an infection that reaches human bloodstream, due to haemophilia, people who are getting treated with dialysis. People having skin infections and sickle cell anaemia, etc may also become victim of acute infectious arthritis.

For instance, a person with pneumonia or infection of the lung or even an infection in bloodstream, may have bacteria deposited in one or more than one joints, resulting in acute arthritis.

Suresh Hospital’s Acute Arthritis ../department

Cura’s physicians suggest an early visit to the hospital, as soon as the patient starts to experience pain in the joints. The doctors are of the opinion that the pain begins usually within few hours to even few days. In most of the cases, our trained staff works on training the patients the right exercises, post diagnosis and treatment for the conditions to enable fast recovery.