THE EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CLINICAL FEATURES OF SEPTIC ARTHRITIS CASES SECONDARY TO KINGELLA KINGAE IN COMPARISON TO SEPTIC ARTHRITIS FROM OTHER PATHOGENS

In Europe, Kingella kingae (Kk) is considered as a significant pathogen in osteoarticular infections (OAI) in young children. Some authors suggest that a significant portion of ‘culture negative septic arthritis’ may be secondary to the inability to isolate K. kingae using conventional methods. However, its pathogenic role and prevalence remain controversial in North America. Since 2014, in order to optimize the microbiological diagnosis of OAI, all osteo-articular specimens submitted to our laboratory for bacteriology culture were simultaneously tested with a home brew multiplex PCR assay detecting Kk, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Consequently, an important increase in Kk OAI proven cases was observed. The clinical presentation of Kk OAI comparatively to the other most common pathogens seen in paediatric OAI has yet to be described in North America