Have you heard of this illness?

[ClutzyEMT]

**waves frantically**

Yugoslavian belly button slug!!!

I think I 'might' know...but too lazy to google so I'll wait and see...

[mobey]

I'm man enough to say I have no friggen clue.

Someone start posting answers and stop waiting to see what everyone else is doing!

[DwayneEMTP]

Man Mobes, not only childish humor but the need for instant gratification...I like it...

Here they call it reactive arthritis, doc also correctly identified it in private as Reiter's Syndrome, though I had to Google that to be sure. WebMD also showed it with several other 'common' names, though I forgot to copy them and it takes about a half hour to reload the page to go back for them so...yeah, gonna have to do it yourself it you're interested.

It begins with some type of bacterial infection, either GI or sexually transmitted. 3-5 days after resolution of GI issues, not sure if it's the same with the STDs, one joint will painfully swell. Other than the swollen joint the patients seem to report feeling unusually well, though it's possible that that is secondary to their perspective having just spent several days feeling unusually shitty.

I've only followed the one patient, the rest of this information comes from the PNG National physician.

But now, can someone explain the transmission of the infection from the Gut/STI area to a single joint in the body? How does it get there? Why only one joint? Why that particular joint over another? Etc?

I thought the conversation would be educational, but if that's too much to ask, and I truly get it if it is, then I'll research it a bit at home...

Thanks all for playing!

[Arctickat]

Any past injury to that particular joint that might make it susceptible?

[ERDoc]

As the name implies, it is a reactive arthritis due to a distant mucosal infection. The pathophysiology is unclear but it seems to be a sterile inflammation of the joint. It can be polyarticular but usually involves large joints. It may be due to an autoimmune reaction, however bacterial fragments have been found in the synovium of affected joints.

[medicgirl05]

I would have never guessed that a swollen extremity could be caused by an STD. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[DwayneEMTP]

Yeah, me either MG, though isn't there a possible connection between bacterial infections spreading from jaws and gums to the heart?

Man, working out here I tend to get really far out of the loop...

Thanks Doc.

AC, I didn't think to ask beyond relatively recent trauma at that site, and the doc was pretty confident with his diagnosis quickly so I doubt that he asked, though he was speaking pigin. I can keep up really well, but only with the broad strokes.

So, short answer, unsure.

[mobey]

Thx for posting.

Obvioustly something to refresh on.

[Kaisu]

OK.. so I was wrong. I thought it was a parasitic infection. Those things can be pretty bizarre.

Great post Dwayne. Love it when I learn something new.

[MariB]

Yes I googled it and never would have guessed in a million years without STI and Swollen Joint. Those two got me my answer.

I think it would be hard to cone up with that king of field diagnosis with what you had though