triggered reactive arthritis

Objectives-To report two patients who developed reactive arthritis in association with Staphylococcus aureus infection. Methods-A review of the case notes of two patients. Results-Two adult female patients have developed sterile arthritis in association with Staph aureus infection. The first patient has had two episodes of arthritis; the first followed olecranon bursitis, the second followed infection of a central venous catheter used for dialysis. The second patient developed sterile arthritis while being treated for pyomyositis. Both patients had a self limited arthritis and were HLA-B27 negative. Conclusion-Reactive arthritis may rarely follow Staph aureus infection. HLA-B27 negativity may be associated with a self limited arthritis in these cases. (Ann Rheum Dis 1995; 54: 131-133) Reactive arthritis is a sterile joint inflammation induced by infection elsewhere in the body. Many organisms may trigger the condition; -3 Staphylococcus aureus is not usually considered one of them, though some case reports have described a sterile arthritis in association with staphylococcal infection. 7 Many of the previously reported cases developed arthritis in association with toxic shock syndrome. 7 We report two patients who developed reactive arthritis in association with Staph aureus infection, neither of whom had toxic shock syndrome. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar A RM Siam M Hammoudeh Correspondence to: Dr Siam, P.O. Box 3050, Hamad General Hospital, Doha, Qatar. Accepted for publication 2 September 1994 Case reports