Infection of the bones and joints

Osteomyelitis is an old disease, identified in dinosaur bones, early hominids and skeletons from ancient civilisations. While infections of native bones and joints persist as a relevant problem in the twenty-first century, implant-associated infection has progressively emerged as a new and major challenge to healthcare systems. Orthopaedic infection can present acutely with major systemic upset, local inflammation and purulence, or insidiously, with gradual bone destruction leading to loss of function and slowly evolving local symptoms, in the presence or absence of systemic features.