The absence of reactive arthritis after shigella sonnei infection

✍ Scribed by Robert B. Lewis

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 123 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780251018

✦ Synopsis

Noer ( I ) reported the incidence of Reiter's syndrome in 9 of 602 sailors who had shigellosis. The shigellosis had followed a stay in a port where dysentery was endemic. Five of these patients with Reiter's syndrome were restudied by Calin and Fries 10 years later, and an association with HLA-B27 antigen was documented ( 2 ) . Their report made us aware that Reiter's syndrome does not always have a benign prognosis.

We recently had the opportunity to do a prospective evaluation of 250 Army reservists who had developed Shigella sonnei dysentery in September 1980 and to record how many had developed signs or symptoms that suggested Reiter's syndrome. The identification of the responsible organism, S sonnei, was done by the Arkansas State Health Department and our hospital laboratory. Both reported the same organism. All patients were treated supportively with antibiotics, and all recovered in 3-4 days.

An easily answered questionnaire was mailed to all of the patients who had documented dysentery. We tried to ascertain whether any joint, eye, back, urethral, or skin problems had subsequently developed. To those who gave a positive response a second questionnaire was sent, in which