Antibiotic treatment of venereal disease and Reiter's syndrome in a Greenland population.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the effects of antibiotic treatment of urethritis or cervicitis on the incidence of recurrences of articular symptoms in Reiter's syndrome patients.


METHODS
Retrospective evaluation of the medical charts of 109 patients living in Greenland.


RESULTS
Thirty-seven percent of the episodes of genitourinary tract inflammation that were not treated or were treated with penicillin were followed by arthritis, compared with 10% of those treated with tetracycline or erythromycin.


CONCLUSIONS
Antibiotics active against Chlamydia trachomatis reduced the risk of postvenereal arthritis in the population studied.
Bardin
T
T
Clinique de Rhumatologie, Hôpital Lariboisière, France.
Enel
C
C
Cornelis
F
F
Salski
C
C
Jorgensen
C
C
Ward
R
R
Lathrop
G M
GM
D000328:Adult; D001168:Arthritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016918:Arthritis, Reactive / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006116:Greenland / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D004930:Inuit; D008297:Male; D010406:Penicillins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013752:Tetracycline / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014526:Urethritis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002575:Uterine Cervicitis / Q000188:drug therapy*
D010406:Penicillins; D004917:Erythromycin; D013752:Tetracycline