Polyarthritis due to other bacteria

This code signifies inflammation of multiple joints (polyarthritis) caused by a bacterial infection other than those specifically classified elsewhere (e.g., meningococcal, gonococcal). It represents an infectious arthritis where the causative bacterium is identified but falls outside more specific bacterial categories.

Use this code when documentation confirms polyarthritis and a bacterial etiology is identified, but the specific bacterium is not one for which a more precise ICD-10-CM code exists (e.g., Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Pseudomonas). This code is appropriate when the bacterial agent is known to be the cause of the joint inflammation, and the infection is not localized to a single joint.

• Always sequence the underlying bacterial infection code first, if known and not inherent in the arthritis code itself.
• Ensure documentation specifies "polyarthritis" (involving five or more joints) and explicitly links it to a bacterial cause.
• Differentiate from septic arthritis of a single joint (M00.8x) or reactive arthritis (M02.x), which have distinct coding pathways.