YERSINIA-ARTHRITIS - LONG-TERM PROGNOSIS

Twenty-two patients were followed for a mean of 10.7 years after acute Yersinia arthritis. Their clinical course, agglutinating antibodies, and laboratory parameters of inflammation were analyzed. In 73% of cases HLA-B27 was positive. The acute disease lasted from 1 month to 1 year. One male patient showed a bilateral synostosis of sacroiliac joints at the acute phase of the disease. He developed the clinical characteristics of severe ankylosing spondylitis. Another two patients with HLA-B27 had radiologically inflammatory changes of sacroiliac joints or symphysis without clinical findings. Agglutinating antibodies against dead Yersinia bacilli were negative in all patients. No laboratory signs of inflammation were present. The long-term prognosis of Yersinia arthritis is benign.