Arthritis and Venereal Urethritis

Abstract

The clinical course of arthritis associated with venereal urethritis was clearly defined before 1900. Brodie (1818, 1836), Fournier (1868-69), and Launois (1899) published excellent descriptions of the disease, noting the predilection of the arthritis for the joints of the lower extremities, the relapsing course, and the frequency of complications affecting the eyes. Launois gave an accurate account of an attack of keratodermia blennorrhagica occurring during severe arthritis, and investigation of the accompanying urethritis in this case failed to reveal the gonococcus. Fiessinger and Leroy (1916) and Reiter (1916) described the syndrome of urethritis, arthritis, and conjunctivitis following bacillary dysentery, and in the same year Waelsch (1916) observed a similar triad of symptoms in his investi- gation of 44 cases of abacterial urethritis of venereal origin. Hollander (1946) reported 53 patients with " non-specific " urethritis in whom arthritis devel- oped; 32 of the patients had conjunctivitis, 26 circinate balanitis, and six keratodermia blennor- rhagica.