Re: Penny, You May Be Interested In This One

[Guest guest]

Yes, I do find this interesting. Especially that they found Ceftin

to be effective against osteomyelitis. Ceftin was great for me for a

while, then it fizzled out like so many. Of course, we're talking

about children here, certainly their infections aren't as entrenched

or as systemic as ours are.

And that's the issue that I find so frustrating. I think that

sometimes abx work for us because they reduce the bacterial load

quite a bit and we feel better as a result, but if you can't get to

their deep hiding places, they just end up re-emerging stronger than

ever, and we start running out of antibiotics that work.

So the key is finding out how to get the treatments to work in those

places where the bugs can hide best. And that's no easy task, since

there are quite a few places. But I think it's like cancer. If you

don't get it all...it just keeps spreading.

penny

> I find the last paragraph of this abstract very relevant to two of

> your concerns: Osteomyelitis, and uncertainty about whether in

> specific cases the cause of disease is borrelia or something else.

>

> Clin Infect Dis. 1994 Nov;19(5):891-6.

>

> Subacute multiple-site osteomyelitis caused by Borrelia

burgdorferi.

>

> Oksi J, Mertsola J, Reunanen M, Marjamaki M, Viljanen MK.

>

> Department of Medical Microbiology, Turku University, Finland.

>

> In a pediatric case of severe multiple-site osteomyelitis caused

by

> Borrelia burgdorferi, the presence of spirochetes in a bone lesion

> was documented both by culture and by the polymerase chain

reaction

> (PCR). Positive PCR results were also obtained with culture fluid

> yielding spirochetal growth and with acute-phase serum.

>

> Although the disease evidently was a late manifestation of Lyme

> borreliosis, antibodies to B. burgdorferi were low in titer and

were

> restricted to the IgM class.

>

> The distribution of osteomyelitic lesions in multiple bones and

the

> positive PCR results obtained with serum argue for hematogenous

> spread of the spirochetes.

>

> Before the specific diagnosis was established, the patient

received

> several potent antimicrobial drugs, without a favorable outcome.

In

> contrast, therapy with ceftriaxone led to a rapid cure that

> persisted thereafter. We conclude that infection due to B.

> burgdorferi must be considered a possible cause of subacute

> pediatric osteomyelitis.

>

> Publication Types:

> Case Reports

>

> PMID: 7893875 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]