Musculoskeletal

Reactive arthritis

A sterile inflammatory arthritis that develops after a gastrointestinal or genitourinary infection and commonly follows an asymmetric spondyloarthritis pattern.

Definition

Reactive arthritis is a sterile inflammatory arthritis that develops after a gastrointestinal or genitourinary infection, usually with an asymmetric lower-limb spondyloarthritis pattern.

First principles

The joint inflammation follows infection elsewhere

Reactive arthritis develops after an infection, commonly gastrointestinal or genitourinary. The joint is not usually infected by the trigger organism, so the diagnosis is a post-infectious inflammatory syndrome rather than septic arthritis. Symptoms typically begin 1 to 4 weeks after the infection, which may have been mild or already resolved.

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