Unusual gas-forming infection with Escherichia coli

Infections with non-clostridial gas-forming organisms are not often encountered in orthopaedic practice. We present here a case of gas-forming infection with Escherichia coli which occurred 10 months after internal fixation of a closed fracture of the femur in an 84-year-old diabetic woman who suffered from septic nephrolithiasis. The wound infection was considered to have arisen by spread from the organisms of the infected kidney.