Osteomyelitis historical perspective

Osteomyelitis has been described since antiquity and evidence of the disease exists in dinosaur fossils. The disease used to be called “abscessus in medulla”, “necrosis” and “boil of the bone marrow” until Auguste Nelation coined the term osteomyelitis in 1844. NJ Blockey, JT Watson, and TA McAllister developed treatment strategies for osteomyelitis in 1970 upon which current clinical practices are based.

• Osteomyelitis has been identified in the fractured spine of a dimetrodon Permian reptile, which existed 291 to 250 million years ago.
• Osteomyelitis may have been been first described by Hippocrates (460-370 BC).
• Before Auguste Nelation termed the disease “osteomyelitis” in 1844, the disease was referred to as “abscessus in medulla”, “necrosis”, and “boil of the bone marrow”.
• Prior to the introduction of penicillin in 1940 as an antibiotic, osteomyelitis was usually treated with crude surgical excision of necrotic tissue or limb amputation.
• Penicillin significantly reduced mortality until 1950 following the emergence of penicillin-resistant bacteria, most commonly Staphylococcus spp
• In 1970, NJ Blockey, JT Watson, and TA McAllister reevaluated the treatment of osteomyelitis with antibiotics and surgery, which reflects current clinical practices.^[1]