title: Two forms of reactive arthritis?
abstract: Inflammatory arthritides developing after a distant infection have so far been called reactive or postinfectious, quite often depending on the microbial trigger and/or HLA-B27 status of the patient. For clarity, it is proposed that they all should be called reactive arthritis, which, according to the trigger, occurs as an HLA-B27 associated or non-associated form. In addition to the causative agents and HLA-B27, these two categories are also distinguished by other characteristics. Most important, HLA-B27 associated arthritis may occur identical to the Reiter's syndrome with accompanying ureteritis and/or conjunctivitis, whereas in the B27 non-associated form this has not been clearly described. Likewise, only the B27 associated form belongs to the group of spondyloarthropathies.
authors.affiliation: Turku Immunology Centre, Departments of Medical Microbiology and Medicine, Turku University, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Toivanen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toivanen
mesh_terms: D016918:Arthritis, Reactive / Q000145:classification* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000276:immunology; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen