Does Septic Arthritis Come Back?

… Continued …

Taking the medication incompletely

For example, it’s recommended to completely take the full course of your antibiotics. If you don’t take them for the duration directed by your doctor, you may wipe out some bacteria (but not all of them).

Also, the remaining bacteria can be more resistance and more difficult to kill (higher dose of antibiotics is required for such a case). Incomplete removal of bacteria can make you have the recurrence more likely.

Weak immune system

The immune system, the body’s natural defense system, is a network of many components (such as cells, tissues, and certain organs) that work together to fight against ‘foreign’ invaders including harmful bacteria.

In other words, your immune system plays a key role to protect you from bacterial infection. If it doesn’t work well, you’re at high risk of having infectious disease such as septic arthritis. In fact septic arthritis is quite common in those who have diabetes, liver problem, kidney disease, or other factors that can lead to a weak immune system.

Rheumatoid arthritis

Also called autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic joint disease with abnormality of immune system. Without known reason, the body immune system gets malfunctioned and mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissues, causing chronic inflammation throughout the body. So RA is not only about joint disease, it can affect the entire body.

Having RA is also often to blame for septic arthritis. Even septic arthritis associated with RA is often difficult to treat.

If RA is the main culprit, controlling your RA is the key. More flare-ups of RA (periods of when the symptoms worsen) – the higher the risk of developing RA complications including the risk of having more than one episode of septic arthritis!

The bad news, RA medications (especially some that suppress immune system) may worsen the risk of septic arthritis. Immunosuppressant medications can make infections more likely to occur.

What else?

It’s also possible for septic arthritis to return if you have the following conditions:

1. Rheumatoid arthritis is not the only one. Having another existing joint problem such as gout, lupus, and osteoarthritis may also increase the risk.
2. Having skin fragility. If you have certain medical condition, eczema or psoriasis for example, that makes your skin easy to break and heal poorly – your chance to have one or more episodes of septic arthritis increases.
3. If you get joint trauma such as puncture woods, cuts, or animal bites over a joint – this is especially true if you have a weak body’s immune system.