Comparative study of gonococcal arthritis and Reiter's syndrome.

Differentiation between Reiter's syndrome (RS) and gonococcal arthritis may be difficult, since both conditions are characterised by arthritis and urethritis. Holmes and coworkers156 noted that 13 out of 23 patients who later developed RS were initially thought to have gonococcal arthritis, and both diseases are by no means virtually exclusive. Patients with culture-positive gonococcal urethritis sometimes go on suffering from an aseptic peripheral arthritis unresponsive to antiboitics. Many of them are then found to be HLA-B27 positive and then respond well* to anti-inflammatory drugs, suggesting