The precise cause of this condition is not yet known; however, studies in this regard suggest that, in most cases, a certain genetic predisposition and exposure to certain infectious agents play a key role in the onset of the disease.
Currently, there is no specific diagnostic test for reactive arthritis, so doctors must rely on investigations such as medical history, physical examination, blood work, and sometimes synovial fluid tests and imaging.
For the moment, the therapy is based on pharmacological treatments for the management of symptoms and the eradication of the infectious agent that acted as the trigger of the disease, on physiotherapy and on physical exercise.
(arthritis), ocular conjunctiva (conjunctivitis) and urethra (urethritis).
The term "Reiter's syndrome" has now fallen into disuse for basically two reasons: first of all, Hans Conrad Julius Reiter, the German physician who first described the disease in question in 1916, did not exactly understand the pathogenesis of the condition; secondly, the medical community and public opinion in general have rightly wanted to distance themselves from HCJ Reiter himself, since the latter, during the Second World War, was guilty of war crimes as a Nazi in the concentration camp by Buchenwald.
6, of a particular gene called HLA-B27, where HLA is the English acronym for Human Leukocyte Antigen, i.e. Human Leukocyte Antigen.
HLA-B27 belongs to a family of genes encoding surface proteins - more precisely antigens - which play a key role in the defense against infections and in distinguishing the body's own cells (self) from extraneous ones (non-self).
Evidence suggests that the presence of the HLA-B27 gene makes individuals more vulnerable to various diseases, including reactive arthritis.
The reasons behind this increased vulnerability are still unclear; however, it seems that, upon the occurrence of certain conditions (eg: an "infection), HLA-B27 triggers an abnormal immune reaction, which subsequently leads to the disease.
It should be noted that being a carrier of HLA-B27 does not necessarily mean that you will get reactive arthritis, but only that there is a predisposition towards it.
Environmental Factors: Gastrointestinal, Urinary and Genital Infections
Scientific research has observed how certain infections precede the onset of reactive arthritis.
This observation has led the experts to conclude that there is probably a correlation between the two events.
Infectious agents associated with the onset of reactive arthritis include:
- Bacteria that typically act on the gastrointestinal level, such as Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Yersinia spp., Campylobacter spp.
- Bacteria that typically act at the genital level and are responsible for sexually transmitted infections, including Chlamydia trachomatis And Ureaplasma urealyticum.
- Bacteria that typically act in the urine, but which have not yet been well identified.
Based on the studies conducted so far, these infectious agents appear to be able to indirectly cause reactive arthritis in the presence of genetic factors in their favor.
A favorable genetic condition, very common among reactive arthritis patients, is precisely the one described above: the presence of the HLA-B27 gene.
For reasons not fully understood, for people with the HLA-B27 gene, exposure to one of the aforementioned pathogens could be the trigger for an abnormal immune reaction, which, in terms of effect, results in the appearance of " reactive arthritis.
