bone, joint, and muscle disorders
Reactive Arthritis
Symptoms of Reactive Arthritis
In reactive arthritis, joint pain and inflammation may be mild or severe, but joint damage is rare. Several joints are usually affected at once—especially the knees, toe joints, and areas where tendons are attached to bones, such as at the heels. Often, the large joints of the lower limbs are affected the most. Reactive arthritis often involves joints less symmetrically than Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) . Tendons may be inflamed and painful. Back pain may occur, more commonly in people who carry the Inflammation of the urethra ( Urethritis —the channel that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body) can develop, usually about 7 to 14 days after an infection (after sexual contact or sometimes after diarrhea). Inmen,inflammation of the urethra causes moderate pain and a discharge from the penis or a rash of small and usually painless sores on the glans of the penis (balanitis circinata). The prostate gland may be inflamed and painful. Inwomen,the genital and urinary symptoms, if any occur, are usually mild, consisting of a slight vaginal discharge or uncomfortable urination. The conjunctiva (the membrane that lines the eyelid and covers the eyeball) can become red and inflamed, causing itching or burning and sensitivity to light. Sometimes pain and excessive tearing affect the eye. Small and usually painless or sometimes tender sores can develop in the mouth and on the tongue. Occasionally, a distinctive rash of hard, thickened spots may develop on the skin, especially of the palms and soles and around the nails (keratoderma blennorrhagicum). Rarely, heart and blood vessel complications (such as inflammation of the aorta), inflammation of the membranes covering the lungs, dysfunction of the aortic valve, and brain and spinal cord symptoms or peripheral nervous system (which includes all the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord) symptoms develop. Erythema Nodosum (inflammation of the fat layer beneath the skin that produces tender red or violet bumps under the skin) may occur in people with reactive arthritis, especially after The sores in this photo are shallow and relatively painless. The sores are the result of inflammation in some people who have reactive arthritis. © Springer Science+Business Media This photo shows psoriasis–like plaques, generalized redness, and marked scaling on the palm in a person who has reactive arthritis. © Springer Science+Business Media In a few people, chlamydia causes reactive arthritis, sometimes accompanied by changes in the skin of the feet (called keratoderma blennorrhagicum). Image courtesy of Susan Lindsley via the Public Health Image Library of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 