clt@pur-phy.UUCP (Talmadge) (02/19/85)
*****
I was wondering if anybody knows or has heard anything about the treatment
of Reiter's syndrome, specifically newer forms of treatment of this disease?
My (new) stepmother is suffering from this ailment, and as an experiment
I thought I'd try and see if anybody out on the net has heard anything...
As I understand it, Reiter's Syndrome is a disease of the connective tissue
of muscles. If this isn't correct, or if anyone has anything to add, I'd
be deeply obliged if they'd post something regarding the disease...
Sincerely,
Carrick Talmadge
Dept. of Physics
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47097
UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,harpo,allegra,inuxc,seismo,teklabs}!pur-ee!Physics:clt
INTERNET: clt @ pur-phy.UUCProb@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo) (03/04/85)
In article <1640@pur-phy.UUCP> clt@pur-phy.UUCP (Talmadge) writes: > >As I understand it, Reiter's Syndrome is a disease of the connective tissue >of muscles. If this isn't correct, or if anyone has anything to add, I'd >be deeply obliged if they'd post something regarding the disease... > According to the Merck manual (which is basically a catalog of human disease): "REITER'S SYNDROME "Arthritis associated with nonbacterial urethritis and conjunctivitis, usually seen in adult males following recent sexual exposure; it may also fol- low an acute attack of unexplained diarrhea (dysentery). ... The syndrome seems to be a response to infection with shigella or infectious agents transmitted venereally (e.g chlamydia) in a genetically susceptible host." The manual goes into too great detail to quote here. However, for treatment it mentions anti-inflamatory agents (e.g. aspirin or indomethacin or phen- ylbutazone), physical therapy during the recovery phase (the typical case resolves in 3-4 months, but 50% of patients experience transient recurrences over a period of several years). Corticosteroids not useful! Methotrexate or the folic acid antagonists may lead to symptomatic improvement in patients with severe illness, but they are toxic. Tetracycline may control the urethritis. -- Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell, San Francisco, California {ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob _^__ ~/ \_.\ _ ~/ \_\ ~/ \_________~/ ~/ /\ /\ _/ \ / \ _/ \ _/ \ \ /
ems@amdahl.UUCP (ems) (03/07/85)
> > > >As I understand it, Reiter's Syndrome is a disease of the connective > >tissue of muscles. ... ... request for more info ... > According to the Merck manual ... > > "REITER'S SYNDROME > "Arthritis associated with nonbacterial urethritis and > conjunctivitis, usually seen in adult males following recent > sexual exposure; it may also follow an acute attack of > unexplained diarrhea (dysentery). ... The syndrome seems to be > a response to infection with shigella or infectious agents transmitted > venereally (e.g chlamydia) in a genetically susceptible host." > > The manual ... mentions anti-inflamatory agents (e.g. aspirin or > indomethacin or phenylbutazone), physical therapy during the > recovery phase (the typical case resolves in 3-4 months, but 50% > of patients experience transient recurrences ... ... more on symptoms and treatment ... > ... Tetracycline may control the urethritis. I thought chlamydia was a bacteria. Yet here we have Merck saying that Reiters is associated with 'nonbacterial urethritis'; and proposing that tetracycline may control it... Am I reading this wrong or what? Is chlamydia a bacteria or a virus? Can tetracycline do anything against viruses? And what is this chlamydia stuff anyway. I'd never heard of it before, and now its in magazine articles and on the net. Is this the newest fad bug? Yours in confusion ... -- E. Michael Smith ...!{hplabs,ihnp4,amd,nsc}!amdahl!ems Computo ergo sum The opinions expressed by me are not representative of those of any other person - natural, unnatural, or fictional - and only marginally reflect my opinions as strained by the language.
rob@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo) (03/09/85)
In article <1243@amdahl.UUCP> ems@amdahl.UUCP (ems) writes: >> > >> >As I understand it, Reiter's Syndrome is a disease of the connective >> >tissue of muscles. ... > ... request for more info ... > > >> According to the Merck manual ... >> >> "REITER'S SYNDROME >> "Arthritis associated with nonbacterial urethritis and >> conjunctivitis, usually seen in adult males following recent >> sexual exposure; >> ... >> >> ... Tetracycline may control the urethritis. > >I thought chlamydia was a bacteria. Yet here we have Merck >saying that Reiters is associated with 'nonbacterial >urethritis'; and proposing that tetracycline may control it... >Am I reading this wrong or what? Is chlamydia a bacteria or a virus? >Can tetracycline do anything against viruses? > >And what is this chlamydia stuff anyway. I'd never heard of it >before, and now its in magazine articles and on the net. Is this >the newest fad bug? > I double checked the Merck manual and that's indeed what it says. Chlamydia IS a bacteria. It often is the cause of urethritis. Over the past few years I have gotten non-gonococchal urethritis many times. My doctor, when finding a negative result from the gonorhea culture has just presumed it is chlamydia without further confirmation since culturing it is difficult; the bacteria stay in the cells and culturing for it would involve getting infected cells into the culture medium or something like that. [I am not a medical person, just an informed hypochondriac.] -- Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell, San Francisco, California {ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob _^__ ~/ \_.\ _ ~/ \_\ ~/ \_________~/ ~/ /\ /\ _/ \ / \ _/ \ _/ \ \ /
carter@gatech.UUCP (Carter Bullard) (03/09/85)
> I thought chlamydia was a bacteria. Yet here we have Merck > saying that Reiters is associated with 'nonbacterial > urethritis'; and proposing that tetracycline may control it... > Am I reading this wrong or what? Is chlamydia a bacteria or a virus? > Can tetracycline do anything against viruses? > > And what is this chlamydia stuff anyway. I'd never heard of it > before, and now its in magazine articles and on the net. Is this > the newest fad bug? Well, Chlamydia is bacteria-like and tetracycline is the drug of choice. Chlamydia is normally associated as the bugger responsible for non-specific urethritis, or better known as non-gonococcal urethritis. Tetracycline, acts as a bacteriostatic, that is it stops bacteria from dividing, thus allowing your own immune system to catch up and take care of the problem. It works quite well against chlamydia. It does not have any action against viruses( why isn't the plural for virus, viri?). The second drug of choice is erythromycin which works a little like penicillin in that it causes the dividing bacteria to produce defective cell walls. The Merck Manual (oh, by the way Merck is a drug company, not an author), indicates that tetracycline is intended for the urethritis, not the Reiters syndrome. Reiters results from an autoimmune reaction that can be triggered by a chlamydia invasion, presumably because the antibodies produced against the chlamydia also have a slight tendency to attach to certain types of collagen found in certain types of cartilage that are located in certain places in and around your body. Rheumatic fever is a very similar problem, where antibodies to streptococcus like to attach to the elastic fibers in the valves of your heart, thus the phrase "my rheumatic heart" and the reason that you should not let a persistant sore throat go unnoticed. Reiters is not specifically the result of a chlamydia infection. Chlamydia has been around for about 3 billion +_ 1 billion years. It however is becoming noticed because of its increased contribution to the venereal disease problem that we Americans just love to maintain. It seems to have developed in the last 2 years a tendency to produce a more pronounced set of symptoms making it a little more obvious to the males that become infected, and as a result more cases are being reported. -- Carter Bullard ICS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA 30332 CSNet:Carter @ Gatech ARPA:Carter.Gatech @ CSNet-relay.arpa uucp:...!{akgua,allegra,amd,ihnp4,hplabs,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!carter