'A TB bone' what does that mean?

[Mosaic]

I wonder if anyone can explain to me in simple terms how TB would infect a child's tibia. This one of many scraps of family history - apparently one of my relatives was bitten on the ankle by a dog and (so the story goes) suffered with 'TB in the bone' as a result.
This would be in the early 1920s, so I suppose they were fortunate to survive it. Whatever 'it' was.

[mazie]

here's a link that might help Mosaic

http://www.ehow.com/a...culosis-symptoms.html

[sandyRoe]

scroll down to 'Extrapulmonary'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis

[Mosaic]

Thanks chaps - Sandy, the 'extrapulmonary' seems to explain it. So I'm guessing somebody coughed, sneezed or sang over the open wound after the dog attack.....eeew.

[Sqad]

The commonest cause by far, would be from lung TB although in the 1920's one would have to rule out infected milk as a cause.

It is doubtful that the dog bite had anything to do with the TB of bone.

It was a miracle that the child survived TB osteomyelitis in the 1920's.

[Sqad]

Just a bit of useless information for you........

Before Streptomycin was available, the rich would go to Switzerland for treatment of their TB, sunlight being "healing" for bone TB, but bad for lung TB. The patients were sited on the hillsides....boneTB on the sunny side and pulmonary TB patients on the shaded side.

[Mosaic]

Brilliant Sqad- thanks! it answers a query in mind mind ie the spurious link between dog bite and TB.
So the likelihood is the old relly had got TB anyway, and treatment following the attack simply pointed it out.
I don't think the poor of darkest salford got sent to Switzerland often in the 1920s - I suppose some time in a sanatorium somewhere Blackpool way might have been an option - or just curling up and dying.
The relly got known for being 'delicate' as a child and missed a lot of school, then went on to defy Hitler and lived into her 90s.