A patient with reactive arthritis (in her case, diagnosed as Reiter’s) sent me this link. I saw this page a few years ago, but the NIH has since updated it and I read it carefully. Frankly, I was a bit surprised with the specificity of changes; however, I see it as progress:
http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Reactive_Arthritis/default.asp
Here are some excerpts from this page referenced above, but please read the full page to get all the nuggets that may be of interest to you. There's a lot there!
What Is Reactive Arthritis?
…Reactive arthritis is a form of arthritis, or joint inflammation, that occurs as a “reaction” to an infection elsewhere in the body. Inflammation is a characteristic reaction of tissues to injury or disease and is marked by swelling, redness, heat, and pain.
Besides this joint inflammation, reactive arthritis is associated with two other symptoms: redness and inflammation of the eyes (conjunctivitis) and inflammation of the urinary tract (urethritis). These symptoms may occur alone, together, or not at all.
Reactive arthritis is also known as Reiter’s syndrome, and your doctor may refer to it by yet another term, as a
seronegative spondyloarthropathy.
The seronegative spondyloarthropathies are a group of disorders that can cause inflammation throughout the body,
especially in the spine. (Examples of other disorders in this group include
psoriatic arthritis,
ankylosing spondylitis, and the kind of arthritis that sometimes accompanies inflammatory bowel disease.)…
…The symptoms of reactive arthritis usually last 3 to 12 months, although symptoms can return or develop into a long-term disease in a small percentage of people...
What Causes Reactive Arthritis?
Reactive arthritis typically begins about 1 to 3 weeks after infection. The bacterium most often associated with reactive arthritis is
Chlamydia trachomatis, commonly known as chlamydia (pronounced kla-MID-e-a). It is usually acquired through sexual contact. Some evidence also shows that respiratory infections with
Chlamydia pneumoniae may trigger reactive arthritis…
…Infections in the digestive tract that may trigger reactive arthritis include
Salmonella,
Shigella,
Yersinia, and
Campylobacter. People may become infected with these bacteria after eating or handling improperly prepared food, such as meats that are not stored at the proper temperature….
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So there you have it -- at least for reactive arthritis: food, sexual contact or respiratory infections
can lead to reactive arthritis.
I must ask you - especially the "lurkers:" How I am doing on creating my thesis so far? All I am trying here is collect the articles and research from many different researchers and organizations to assemble a logical argument.
