STAPH AUREUS AS THE MOST COMMON CAUSE OF OSTEOARTICULAR INFECTION IN DOST - 1 MAYO HOSPITAL, LAHORE.

Background: Infection of the bone or bone marrow simply means osteomyelitis. The classification is based on the type of bacteria, route, duration, and anatomical location of the involved area. Commonly it occurs due to exposure of the bone to the local infection. It usually requires prolong treatment lasting from weeks to months and may requires surgical intervention. Severe cases may lead to the loss of a limb. Objective: To determine the most common causative organism of osteoarticular infection in Department of Orthopaedics Surgery and Traumatology, Mayo Hospital, Lahore. Methodology: This longitudinal interventional study was conducted at DOST, Mayo Hospital Lahore for period of two years. Total 200 patients with osteoarticular infections were included. Informed consent and demographic detail was obtained. Patients were followed- up in OPD for 24 weeks post-operatively to assess the outcome of the procedure. Results: There were 180 (90%) males and 20 (10%) females. There were 39 (19.5%) patients who had upper limb infection, 147 (73.5%) patients with lower limb infections and 14 (7%) patients presented with septic arthritis of lower limb. Detailed clinical history of the patients shows that there were 186 (93%) patients who had previous history of trauma while 14 (7%) did not report trauma. Final outcome was assessed through a scoring system by Jaberi FM. After assessment, it was revealed that Culture sensitivity was positive in 188 (61.5%) patients at 1st week, at 6^th week 123 (61.5%) patients had positive culture sensitivity and at 16th week, 52 (26%) cases had positive culture sensitivity. Causative organism were also given in the table Staph Aureus was the organism which cause infection in 96% of the patients. Conclusion: Most cases are post-traumatic and Staph Aureus is the most common causative organism found. Chronic Osteomyelitis is prevalent than acute one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]