Menino hospitalized with elbow infection

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino was admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital this morning with an infected scrape on his elbow, and is expected to spend at least the next 24 hours there receiving an antibiotic drip.

Dot Joyce, Menino's spokeswoman, said the 67-year-old mayor somehow scraped his left elbow while in Florence, Italy on Saturday for a conference on urban development.

He returned to Boston last night, and had the injury checked out by his primary care doctor this morning because the elbow was inflamed, Joyce said. The doctor diagnosed the mayor with septic bursitis, a bacterial infection.

"He’s otherwise absolutely healthy and alert and conscious," Joyce said. "The moral of the story is, if you scrape your elbow while you’re away traveling, you should take care of it before it gets infected."

The mayor has cancelled his events for the day, which included kicking off a holiday shopping event in West Roxbury this morning.

The infected elbow marks the second time in recent months that the mayor has struggled with a joint injury. A year ago, he severed the tendon that connects his thigh muscles to the top of his left kneecap while walking up the stairs at his son’s house, five days after he won re-election to an unprecedented fifth term.

The injury forced Menino to spend several weeks at home, rehabilitating his knee with a physical therapist. He was also forced to use crutches for several weeks.