Reiter's disease: an historical review of a soldiers' disease.

Major conflicts in history have yielded an equal number of medical casualties as those injured in battle, and no more common a problem exists in the insanitary conditions of war as dysentery. The complication of arthritis following dysentery has been documented since ancient times, but it is not until the 16th Century that these cases appear in any numbers, and then it is predominantly in military personnel. "Reiter's Disease" is currently understood to mean an asymmetrical, predominantly lower-limb polyarthritis developing after urethritis (usually non-gonococcal) or dysentery; conjunctivitis is not always a constant feature. This is the commonest inflammatory polyarthropathy of young men and both the epidemic (dysenteric) and sporadic (venereal) forms are historically prevalent in soldiers--a not surprising fact considering the squalor of war and the unrestrained behaviour of the Private soldier. This paper traces the history of Reiter's disease and highlights its affinity for military populations.