Experimental osteomyelitis. I. A description of the model.

Abstract

Since the advent of antibiotics, acute osteomyelitis has become a less frequent cause of admission to the hospital, and mortality from the disease has declined [1]. Chemotherapy is not, however, a panacea and chronic osteomyelitis still develops with disturbing frequency. In several series, 153096 of individuals with acute osteomyelitis went on to develop chronic disease despite antibiotic therapy [1-3]. Trauma to bone, with infection resulting from the trauma itself or occurring after corrective surgery, can also lead to chronic osteomyelitis [1, 4]. As noted by Waldvogel et al. [1], many major questions concerning osteomyelitis remain unanswered. Reliable data relating to the optimal duration of antimicrobial therapy, the efficacy of one drug vs. another, and the relative contributions of surgery and antibiotics to or in treatment of osteomyelitis are not to be found in the literature. Many of these uncertainties stem from the number of uncontrolled variables in human disease, i.e., the age of the patients, the site of involvement, organisms and their patterns of antibiotic resistance, and the difficulties in establishing criteria for the success or failure of therapy. For these reasons, an experimental model of osteomyelitis has been sought. Most earlier animal studies have required considerable trauma to establish osteomyelitis, and animals have died within