Suggest treatment for bone infection due to osteo mellitus
Patient: Hi i would liketo ask you a question about osteo mellitus.  My son is on antibiotics for atotal of five weks.  he had a sever foot infectioon. the infection is to the bone. iIs it anyway possible that he could avoid amputation.  The doctor says there is no way medically the antibiotic wouldclear theinfection  up. He said every bone inis foot wasinfected.  So the doctor said when he takes him off in 6 more days he will spike a fever and his foot will blow back up.  Just curious aboutyour answer Doctor: Hi! thanks for sharing your son's long-standing and severe health problem with us!In such cases of chronic non-healing or non-responding osteomyelitis, especially affecting the lower portions of legs, when a child visits me, I usually consider following things:1. any injury to skin or loss of skin/soft tissue is dangerous!2. microbiological culture/sensitivity report is essential to kill the offending organisms3. chronic infection of bone leads to bone death which is irreversible4. in long-standing cases tuberculosis, fungus and other unusual infection also take place5. left untreated, the disease is self progressive that means it spreads quickly to adjacent areas/bones6. months of antibiotic often fails to heal it and surgery is then must to prevent further lossTherefore, in my opinion, in your son's case, at  least partial surgical debridement would be helpful if not an amputation!Hope got the answer; anyways, Also don't forget to write to us in case any more queries.Wishing your son good health!