Patients with sickle cell disease are more susceptible to osteomyelitis and septic arthritis than the population at large. Seventy eight patients with these conditions were admitted to our hospital from April 1988 to March 1991. Thirty had sickle cell disease, 14 had the sickle cell trait and 34 had normal electrophoresis. The tibia, followed by the femur and humerus were the bones most commonly affected, and the knee was the joint most often involved. Salmonella was the commonest organism in osteomyelitis and septic arthritis in sickle cell disease, whereas staphylococcus was commonest in normal patients and those with the sickle cell trait. Antibiotics that cover these two organisms must be considered in patients with sickle cell disease who are suspected of having osteomyelitis or septic arthritis. 'Avril 1988 d Mars 1991, 78 malades ont dtd admis d l'h6pital central de Qatif pour ostdomydlite et/ou arthrite septique. Ils pr~sentaient 66 localisations osseuses et 38 articulaires. Trente malades avaient une drdpanocytose homozygote, quatorze une h6moglobinose h6t6rozygote et les autres une dlectrophorbse normale de l'hdmoglobine. Chez les trente malades dr@anocytaires, il y avait 32 localisations osseuses et 16 atteintes articulaires. Le tibia dtait la localisation la plus frdquente (43.9%) suivi par le f6mur (21.2%) et par l'humdrus (18.2%). Le genou dtait l'articulation la plus souvent atteinte par l'arthrite septique (58.8%). Les salmonelles dtaient
R~sum~. Les malades atteints de drdpanocytose sont plus exposes aux ostdomydlites et aux arthrites septiques que les sujets normaux. En ttvis arts, d