Observations on the use of thiouracil in rheumatoid arthritis.

No reports have been published on the possible effects upon rheumatoid arthritis of the thiouracil drugs, which have a potent action on the thyroid and also on the adrenal glands, although several investigators have pointed out certain correlations between disturbances of the thyroid on the one hand, and rheumatoid arthritis on the other, and the study of the adrenal cortex plays a central role in rheumatology. Tripi and others (1949) certainly observed in a careful investigation thiat rats treated with thiouracil developed a more severe experimental arthritis than control animals. However, these animal experiments are not directly applicable to human rheumatoid arthritis, particularly as the animals suffered from a septic arthritis quite different from the human disease. The rats were inoculated with a " pleuropneumonia-like organism "; in connection with the developing joint affections, abscesses were to be found in several organs, and the inoculated micro-organisms could be cultivated both from various organs and from the joints in pure culture. The experimentation with thiouracil medication in cases of rheumatoid arthritis was initiated by a case in which thiouracil seemed to have a favourable action.