REACTIVE ARTHRITIS - PROSPECTIVE CLINICAL -RADIOLOGICAL STUDY

We study with a prospective design all reactive arthritis diagnosed at the Service of Rheumatology in Bellvitge Hospital during a thirty mon ths period, from August 1985 to February 1988; in order to describe it s clinical features, etiological factors and prognosis. Thirty patient s who fulfilled the admission criteria were admitted to the study. A p reviously designed protocol of clinical, serological and microbiologic study was applied to all. A microorganism was identified in 21 patien ts. In 14 cases it was Yersinia enterocolitica, in 4 Chlamydia trachom atis, in 2 Salmonella enteritidis and in 1 a group A beta-hemolytic St reptococcus. The averaged length of the disease was 7.6 +/- 8 months.