Background: With the aim of establishing the role of blunt trauma, a trauma without any fracture or obvious wound, as a risk factor in children who were admitted for community-acquired severe staphylococcal septicemia with various organ involvement, 63 patients were investigated during a seven-year study period. All children were previously healthy.
Results: Blunt trauma was present in 12 (46%) of 26 septicemic patients in whom skeletal infections were diagnosed and the relative risk of trauma was high (odds ratio 15.0; confidence interval 2.9-75.8, P < 0.001) in these children. Patients with multiple organ involvement and with multifocal skeletal infections were more frequent among traumatized patients. Children with skeletal involvement were significantly older than others (P < 0.001). The period between the first symptom of infection and the diagnosis was shorter in traumatized children (P < 0.001). None of the children with staphylococcal pulmonary or soft tissue infection had any history of trauma. We conclude that blunt trauma is one of the important risk factors for skeletal involvement in staphylococcal septicemia. Its immunosuppressive nature, especially in local damage of the skin barrier, may be the cause of seeding and multifocal infection.