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Review
. 2025 May;44(5):1019-1029.
doi: 10.1007/s10096-025-05066-z. Epub 2025 Feb 18.

Septic arthritis - symptoms, diagnosis and new therapy

Angelika Domagała  1   2 , Barbara Macura  3 , Karolina Piekarz  2 , Aneta Kiecka  4   5
Affiliations
Review

Septic arthritis - symptoms, diagnosis and new therapy

Angelika Domagała et al. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2025 May.

Abstract

Septic arthritis (SA) is an infection of one or more joints caused mainly by Staphylococcus aureus, to a lesser extent by streptococci and Gram-negative bacilli. It poses a huge medical problem due to its high mortality rate of 2-15%. Disease symptoms are often vague, resulting in a risk that SA may be diagnosed too late. This shows the urgency of finding a rapid diagnostic method for SA and an effective therapy. Basic treatment of SA including joint drain or empirical antimicrobial therapy does not always provide the desired results. Hence, new therapies are being sought, including the use of antimicrobial peptide or phage therapy.

Keywords: Bacterial arthritis; Diagnostics; Septic arthritis; Treatment; Virulence factor.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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