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Patients and Methods:
In this descriptive-comparative study, all patients older than 1 year who were hospitalized at Rasoul-e-Akram Hospital from 1999 to 2009 with a confirmed diagnosis of VO were included. The diagnosis of VO was confirmed in the presence of compatible clinical features, vertebral CT scan or MRI. Etiological diagnosis of VO was defined when the microorganism was isolated from blood culture, bone biopsy, paravertebral abscess aspiration; typical histopathological pattern of tuberculosis (caseating granuloma) or malignancy in bone biopsy; Wrights or serum agglutination test 1/80 or 2ME 1/40 according to the national guidelines. Analytical statistics such as the chi-square and t test were used to find correlation and relationships among the variables. P< 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance.