Arthritis Conjunctivitis Urethritis Syndrome eMedicine Pediatrics

Description: Arthritis, urethritis, and conjunctivitis followed by dysentery was first described by Stoll in 1776. In 1818, Sir Benjamin Brodie reported 5 cases of arthritis, urethritis, and conjunctivitis associated with a postvenereal prodrome in the English literature. In 1916, Hans Reiter (a Nazi physician) described a young soldier who experienced an acute febrile illness with the classic triad, including purulent conjunctivitis, nongonococcal urethritis, and severe arthritis following an episode of bloody diarrhea; Reiter attributed it to a Treponema infection. The same year, Fiessinger and Leroy, French physicians, reported a case of the syndrome and attributed to a Shigella infection.
Akaluck Thatayatikom, MD 2009