Spondyloarthropathy identified as the etiology of Nubian erosive arthritis

Slight variation in manifestation of different diseases may allow a single individual with one disease to mimic the "classic" appearance of another, a s evidenced by the frequent confusion of spondyloarthropathy with rheumatoi d arthritis. Analysis of population occurrence of arthritis (rather than is olated skeletons) facilitates more precise diagnosis. Northeast Africans li ving around 2,000 years before present were clearly afflicted with a form o f spondyloarthropathy. Lack of inclusion of spondyloarthropathy in the diff erential diagnosis of erosive arthritis led to past misclassification of Nu bians as having rheumatoid arthritis. While evidence of spondyloarthropathy abounds in the literature of human skeletal disease, pre-Columbian Old Wor ld rheumatoid arthritis is still elusive. The current study further documen ts the absence of rheumatoid arthritis in Nubians, supporting the hypothesi s that rheumatoid arthritis began in the New World. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, In c.