Læknablaðið : fylgirit - 01.05.1978, Page 110

yersinia arthritis, Reiter’s syndrome, gonococcal
arthritis, rheumatic fever and control subjects.
Only yersinia arthritis and Reiter's syndrome
had positive correlation with B27.
Summarizing conclusions:
- Compatibly with previous studies yersinia
arthritis seems to be a "B27 positive rheumatic
disease," whereas rheumatic fever and gonococcal
arthritis are not.
- The clinical picture of arthritis is similar in
B27 positive and negative patients, with the
exception that joint symptoms seem more prolonged
in the B27 positive group.
- B27 positive yersinia arthritis patients seem
to have signs of local inflammation such as iritis,
carditis and signs of urological inflammation more
often than B27 negative patients.
- B27 positiye patients with spondylarthritis
ankylopoetica seem to be more susceptible to
yersinia arthritis than B27 positive individuals
in general.
- Yersinia arthritis may serve as a trigger
factor of Reiter's syndrome.
Brewerton, who first detected the association
between B27 and spondylarthritis ancylopoetica,
writes in a recent communication (5) as follows:
"Now the attention is rightly switching to basic
research to determine the mechanism by which
these diseases are produced. Hopefully this may
lead to fresh approaches to their prevention and
treatment." Such basic problems are no doubt
of major importance in the further research in
rheumatology. Together with experimental
research a carefui clinical characterization of
"B27 positive rheumatic diseases" undoubtedly
contributes to better understanding of the biologi-
cal significance of B27 histocompatibility antigen.
R ef e renc e s:
1. Schlosstein L, Terasaki PI, Biuestone R &
Pearson CM: High association of an HL-A
arítigen, W27, with ankylosing spondylitis.
N Engl J Med 288, 704, 1973.
2. Brewerton DA, Caffrey M, Hart FD, James
DCO, Nicholls A & Sturrock RD: Ankylosing
spondylitis and HL-A 27. Lancet 1, 904, 1973.
3. Aho K, Ahvonen P, Lassus A, Sievers K &
Tiilikainen A: HL-A 27 in reactive arthritis.
A study of Yersinia arthritis and Reiter's
disease. Arthritis Rheum 17, 521, 1974.
4. Olhagen B: Chronic uro-polyarthritis in the
male. Acta Med Scand 168, 339, 1960.
5. Brewerton DA, Delbarre F, Albert E &
Carbonara A (Unpublished manuscript).
108