ABSTRACT
To develop clinical and laboratory criteria for the differential diagnosis of Mycoplasma-induced arthritides in 78 children with documented rheumatic arthritis (RA), a comprehensive study involving microbiological, immunological, and clinical tools has been performed. Some specific signs of the clinical course of Mycoplasma-induced RA have been defined. However, a differential diagnosis of Mycoplasma-induced arthritis may be made on the basis of a comprehensive study of a patient.
Subject(s)
Arthritis, Juvenile/diagnosis , Mycoplasma Infections/diagnosis , Mycoplasma/isolation & purification , Adolescent , Antibodies, Bacterial/analysis , Antibodies, Bacterial/immunology , Antigens, Bacterial/analysis , Antigens, Bacterial/immunology , Arthritis, Juvenile/immunology , Arthritis, Juvenile/microbiology , Child , Child, Preschool , Diagnosis, Differential , Female , Humans , Male , Mycoplasma/immunology , Mycoplasma Infections/immunology , Mycoplasma Infections/microbiologyABSTRACT
Clinical and laboratory evaluation of arthritis in 36 children with diagnosed enteric yersiniosis is presented on seven-years' follow-up data. Twenty-eight patients were found to have an active course of the disease developing in cycles with a favourable outcome and no residual effects. In eight cases arthritis took a protracted (up to 8-10 months) or chronic (over 12 months) course which ended in clinical and laboratory remission; in three of the eight cases the clinical picture was similar to that of rheumatoid arthritis, in two of which the diagnosis was not excluded by the morphological study of the synovial biopsy sample.
Subject(s)
Arthritis, Infectious/diagnosis , Yersinia Infections/diagnosis , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/diagnosis , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Yersinia enterocoliticaABSTRACT
A microbiological and serologic investigation was carried out in 80 children with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in order to detect Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma as possible causative agents of RA. The antigen of Mycoplasma in question is shown to be detectable in 42.6% of cases more commonly as part of an association of 2 or more species. M. arthritidis and U. urealyticum are the more common findings. Anti-mycoplasma antibodies were detected in 25.7% of the examined children. The role of these Mycoplasma species in RA is discussed, as is the need for etiotropic treatment of mycoplasma rheumatoid arthritis.
Subject(s)
Arthritis, Rheumatoid/microbiology , Mycoplasma/isolation & purification , Ureaplasma/isolation & purification , Child , HumansSubject(s)
Joint Diseases/epidemiology , Urban Population , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , USSRABSTRACT
The blood specimens from 22 children with rheumatoid arthritis, 57 children with other chronic diseases and 30 apparently normal children were tested for the presence of Coxsackie A and B, adeno, and rubella viruses by the method of co-cultivation of patient's lymphocytes with continuous HEp-2 cell culture. Children with chronic diseases were found to have viremia much more frequently than normal children. The frequency of finding of different viruses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (86.4%) significantly exceeded that in healthy children (20%). These patients had rubella and adeno 5 viruses in their blood more frequently than children in the other groups under study. Repeated examinations of 14 patients with rheumatoid arthritis at intervals of 1 year or longer revealed in 11 of them the same viruses as those identified in initial examinations. Persistence of some viruses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis is discussed.
Subject(s)
Adenoviruses, Human/isolation & purification , Arthritis, Juvenile/microbiology , Enterovirus/isolation & purification , Rubella virus/isolation & purification , Viremia/microbiology , Child , Chronic Disease , Humans , Leukocytes/microbiology , Virus Cultivation/methodsABSTRACT
Sera and synovial fluids from children with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were examined for antibody to some viral and mycoplasmal antigens. Blood sera from the patients were found to have a selective excess of antibody to rubella virus as compared with the age norm. Antibody of this specificity was found in synovial fluids in titers significantly higher than those in the blood. Titers of other antibodies in the synovial fluids were, as a rule, slightly lower than in sera. In the time course of intercurrent respiratory diseases, despite the lack of rubella introduction into the wards, children with RA showed variations in the levels of antibody to rubella virus much more frequently than to other infectious agents. The foregoing data are discussed from the point of view of the etiological association of juvenile RA with rubella virus persistence. The antigen of the latter was found in snyovial membrane cells of 4 children by means of immunofluorescence procedure.