Reiter's Syndrome in father and son.

Reiter's syndrome consists of a non-specific urethritis, conjunctivitis, polyarthritis, and a number of less constant features (Reiter, 1916). The cause of the urethritis is unknown but it is commonly regarded by venereologists as an infective condition of venereal origin. Although a yearly average of more than 12,000 cases of non-specific urethritis have been reported to the Ministry of Health by Venereal Disease Clinics since 1951, only a small proportion (3 to 4 per cent.) develop the features of Reiter's syndrome. It has been suggested that hereditary predisposition may perhaps explain why some patients with non-specific urethritis develop Reiter's syndrome (Laird, 1958). Some support for this theory is afforded by this paper which reports the occurrence of the syndrome in father and son.