Open AccessExplaining Osteomyelitis and Prosthetic Joint Infections (PJI) in terms of Biofilm – A Review
Author(s) -
Sunita Singh,
C L Tan,
Azfar Rizal Ahmad
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
malaysian orthopaedic journal/malaysian orthopaedic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.271
H-Index - 6
eISSN - 2232-111X
pISSN - 1985-2533
DOI - 10.5704/moj.2107.001
Subject(s) - medicine , osteomyelitis , joint infections , biofilm , joint (building) , intensive care medicine , surgery , arthroplasty , structural engineering , bacteria , geology , periprosthetic , engineering , paleontology
Osteomyelitis is a chronic infection of bones. Eradication of bone infection is usually with antibiotics and debridement, but it is slow and the infection can recur even after many years. It is now established that osteomyelitis is due to biofilm and a better understanding of the process is required. We review the development of biofilm and apply it to osteomyelitis management. The planktonic microbes' response to adverse conditions is the formation of biofilm. Bacterial infections in planktonic forms cause infections that can be controlled with antibiotics and immunisation, however the same microbe when its phenotype becomes biofilm is more resilient. The understanding of how planktonic bacteria convert to biofilm is one of the aims set out for this article.