Summary

• This is an inflammatory condition that occurs after exposure to certain gastrointestinal and genitourinary infections, particularly Chlamydia species, Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella enteritidis, Shigella, and Yersinia.
• Patients may give a history of an antecedent genitourinary or dysenteric infection 1 to 4 weeks before the onset of arthritis.
• Presenting features include systemic symptoms such as fever, peripheral and axial arthritis, enthesitis (inflammation where tendons insert into bone), dactylitis (swelling of an entire finger or toe), conjunctivitis and iritis, and skin lesions including circinate balanitis and keratoderma blennorrhagicum.
• The peripheral arthritis in reactive arthritis (ReA) is usually an asymmetrical oligoarticular arthritis affecting the large joints of the lower limb, although monoarticular and polyarticular arthritis can also occur.
• There is no specific test for diagnosing ReA. Rather, a group of tests is used to confirm the suspicion in someone who has clinical symptoms suggestive of an inflammatory arthritis in the post-venereal or post-dysentery period.
• Treatment is aimed at symptomatic relief and preventing or halting further joint damage. Typical agents include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
• Approximately 30% to 50% of patients will go on to develop some form of chronic ReA.