Article: Spinal abscesses: more than a pain in the back.

The clients' pain started out as a backache--like none they had ever experienced. Fever accompanied the pain, and the clients didn't want to move so much as an inch. Their fingers or feet felt weak, then tingly. The tingly feeling, they now know, was a sign of paralysis, which would change their lives forever.

These are not ordinary cases of quadriplegia--the kind that result from being thrown from a horse or injured in a car crash. These result from spinal epidural abscesses.

These abscesses are rare and require emergency treatment, said John Kostuik, an orthopedic surgery professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!