The treatment plan for your child's osteomyelitis depends on the following:
- The age and general health of the child
- How severe the infection is
- Whether the infection is acute (recent) or chronic (has been going on for a longer time)
Treatment includes antibiotics for the infection and medicine for pain relief. Most kids with osteomyelitis have a brief stay in the hospital to get IV (given in a vein) antibiotics to fight the infection. They can go home when they feel better, but might need to continue IV or oral antibiotics for several more weeks.
Sometimes surgery is needed to clean out an infected bone. If a cavity or hole developed in the bone and is filled with pus (a collection of bacteria and white blood cells), a doctor will do a debridement. In this procedure, the doctor cleans the wound, removes dead tissue, and drains pus out of the bone so that it can heal.
Most children with osteomyelitis feel better within a few days of starting treatment. IV antibiotics often are switched to oral form in 5 to 10 days. Kids usually get antibiotics for at least a month, and sometimes longer depending on symptoms and blood test results.