RESUMO
Sixty-eight cases of non-gonococcal bacterial septic arthritis (SA) who admitted to Siriraj Hospital in 2003-2004 were retrospectively reviewed. Acute monoarthritis, oligoarthritis and polyarthritis were presented in 60.3%, 35.3% and 4.4% of the cases, respectively. Fever was presented in 51.5% of cases. The knee was the most commonly affected joint (40.2%). The organisms were identified from synovial fluid either by gram stained smears or cultures in 85.9% of cases. The microorganisms isolated were gram-positive cocci in 72.7%, gram-negative bacilli in 25.0% and mixed-organisms in 2.3%. The three most common causative organisms were Streptococcus spp. (40.1%), Staphylococcus aureus (33.4%) and Salmonella spp. (8.9%). Complications occurred in 39.7% of cases and the mortality rate was 11.8%. In conclusion, during the past two years, gram-positive cocci were the major isolated pathogen responsible for non-gonococcal bacterial SA in adult Thai-patients from Siriraj Hospital. Despite adequate treatment, bacterial SA continues to be associated with a considerable degree of morbidity and mortality.