Arthritis, conjunctivitis, and urethritis (so-called reiter's syndrome) in a four-year-old boy

Reiter's disease in three boys.

“…Probably the most common causes of monarticular arthritis in children are trauma (including osteochondritis), Still's disease, and tuberculosis (Bywaters and Ansell, 1965). Occasionally septic arthritis may occur, and it therefore is understandable that the initial investigations of our second case and of that reported by Florman and Goldstein (1948) were undertaken to exclude the possibility of intra-articular or para-articular infection. In both cases purulent but sterile fluid was aspirated from the affected joint and antibiotic therapy started before definitive diagnosis could be made.…”

“…A persistently monarticular arthritis has been seen in adult cases of both venereal and dysenteric types (Postma, 1937;King, Williams, Nicol and Loudon, 1946;Paronen, 1948;Harkness, 1950;Guck and Wolf, 1952;Csonka, 1958) and also in childhood cases (Florman and Goldstein, 1948;Jacobs, 1961;Davies and others, 1969). Probably the most common causes of monarticular arthritis in children are trauma (including osteochondritis), Still's disease, and tuberculosis (Bywaters and Ansell, 1965).…”

Reiter's Syndrome in Childhood

“…In one of the recorded cases, that of Florman and Goldstein (1948), the fluid aspirated from a joint was definitely purulent. Therefore, while it seems unlikely that a virus is the primary agent in these cases, consideration might be given to the suggestion that some such infection, in association with Flexner dysentery, produces this very characteristic clinical syndrome.…”

Reiter's syndrome in children. A case report and review

“…Two patients had keratodermia blenorrhagia (10, 14) and three had circinate balanitis (7,10,12). All lesions apparently healed without special treatment.…”