THE ROLE OF AMBIENT AGENTS IN BEHCETS-DIS EASE

Objective. To evaluate the potential role of environmental agents in t he etiopathogenesis of Behcet's disease. Methods. Twenty-eight Behcet' s disease patients and 56 controls were recruited prospectively from t he outpatient rheumatic disease clinic at the Escola Paulista de Medic ina between July 1991 and July 1992. Behcet's disease was diagnosed us ing one of the accepted sets of criteria (Japanese Committee, Internat ional Committee, O'Duffy, Mason and Barnes, James). The control patien ts, who had other rheumatic diseases, were matched on age and sex with the Behcet's disease patients. To investigate environmental factors, a standardized questionnaire was administered to each subject during a n interview. Clinical and laboratory investigations were performed in each subject according to a predefined protocol. Results. Analysis usi ng the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test (Cochran's restriction) disclosed significant associations between Behcet's disease and a hist ory of herpes simplex virus type 1 infection or streptococcal infectio n. Conclusions. Despite the small sample size, our data strongly suppo rt a role of infectious agents in the etiopathogenesis of Behcet's dis ease. Further studies in larger patient populations are needed to conf irm our results.