Reiter's disease with childhood onset having special reference to HLA B27. Report of a case and a review.

A case of Reiter's disease occurring in a girl aged 7 is reported. It commenced with diarrhoea precipitated by a salmonella infection. The patient has suffered from recurring arthritis accompanied by conjunctivitis, oral lesions and nail changes. The course was protracted, the patients having had two recurrences during a period of 6 1/2 years. The first of these lasted for more than one year, the second for a few months. The patient carries the histocompatibility antigen HLA B27 and a review of the literature would seem to establish that the correlation between Reiter's disease with childhood onset and this tissue antigen is as close as that reported in adults. It is stressed that the patient is now in complete remission and that no radiological changes have been demonstrated despite the protracted course. The patient shows no signs either of spondylitis or of sacro-iliitis.