Wednesday, November 12, 2008

First report of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus septic arthritis complicating acupuncture

First report of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus septic arthritis complicating acupuncture: simple procedure resulting in most devastating outcome.

Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2008 Nov 4

Woo PC, Lau SK, Yuen KY.
State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Research Centre of Infection and Immunology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

We report the 1st case of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) septic arthritis after acupuncture, with articular cartilage destruction and chronic osteomyelitis. The patient responded to arthrotomy, synovectomy, and 6 months of antibiotics. The emergence of community-associated MRSA infections would further aggravate the problem. Strict adherence to proper infection control guidelines is mandatory.

Elsevier/ScienceDirect