ABSTRACT

Meticulous details conceming a case of recurrent osteomyelitis were published by Rosner.35 A patient with osteomyelitis of the femur responded well when treated with methicillin followed by oxacillin. Twenty-six months after his operation, the patient again experienced pain in the area of previous infection and exhibited a low-grade fever. Antibiotics were withheld until after surgical exploration. A sinus from the surface of the old lesion contained thickened exudate. Cultures of this material were positive only on hypertonic medium, yielding growth which reverted to Staphy­ lococcus aureus of the same phage type originally infecting the patient, type 80-8 1 . Direct smears obtained at his second hospitalization showed that exudate from the draining sinus and abscess contained occasional large, poorly staining, pleomorphic bodies , but no recognizable staphylococci.