A postmenopausal woman’s reintroduction to sex after a decade culminated in a hospital stay after she developed cystitis that in turn seeded vertebral osteomyelitis, US doctors report.

The 61-year old woman presented to the ED with a two-week history of worsening sacral pain radiating to her lumbar spine and diffuse abdominal pain, write doctors from the Western Michigan University.

The woman, who had a history of fibromyalgia, chronic back pain and gastric bypass surgery, complained the radiating pain into her sacral area had led to problems with her gait and an unprovoked fall at home.

Paracetamol-codeine and methylprednisolone injections — the last occurring 10 days prior — had failed to relieve her pain.