Who gets septic arthritis and who is at risk?
Anyone can get septic arthritis, although the following factors can put you at higher risk: • Conditions that weaken the body’s defences against infection, for example: • Diabetes • Sickle-cell anaemia • Severe kidney disease • HIV/AIDS • Immunodeficiency • Some forms of cancer • Alcoholism • Intravenous drug abuse • Infants and elderly people are generally more susceptible to infection. • Existing arthritis or other joint disease: infectious agents tend to infect joints that are already damaged. • Surgery to replace a damaged joint carries about a 1% chance of septic arthritis. Infection mostly occurs within days to months after surgery, but can appear several years later. • Certain drugs can decrease the body’s ability to resist infection. Examples of such medications are azathioprine, methotrexate and cyclophosphamide, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis; and corticosteroids, such as prednisone. People who receive repeated injections of corticosteroids into the same joint have an inc
Anyone can get septic arthritis, although the following factors can put you at higher risk: • Conditions that weaken the body’s defences against infection, for example: • Diabetes • Sickle-cell anaemia • Severe kidney disease • HIV/AIDS • Immunodeficiency • Some forms of cancer • Alcoholism • Intravenous drug abuse • Infants and elderly people are generally more susceptible to infection. • Existing arthritis or other joint disease: infectious agents tend to infect joints that are already damaged. • Surgery to replace a damaged joint carries about a 1% chance of septic arthritis. Infection mostly occurs within days to months after surgery, but can appear several years later. • Certain drugs can decrease the body’s ability to resist infection. Examples of such medications are azathioprine, methotrexate and cyclophosphamide, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis; and corticosteroids, such as prednisone. People who receive repeated injections of corticosteroids into the same joint have an inc
