British Journal of Rheumatology 1983;22(suppl 2):91-92 A SEARCH FOR INFECTIVE AGENTS IN SPONDYLITIS AND UVEITIS

and institutions in an attempt to identify infective agents in spondylitis and uveitis. Some aspects of the work in the period 1973-82 are reviewed. KEY WORDS: Infective agents, Spondylitis, Uveitis. FOLLOWING the discovery of the association between HLA-B27 and various rheumatic disorders and acute anterior uveitis, it has been evident that the main benefit of this knowledge may be in the assistance genetic markers can give in identifying factors in the environment, particularly infective agents. Research in 1973-1977 Patients with spondylitis and rheumatoid arthritis were questioned about the relationship of inter-current infections and exacerbations of their diseases. Only 13 % of patients with spondylitis and 14% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis could remember any occasion when their rheumatic symptoms had been aggravated by infections: in both diseases one third of exacerbations had followed diarrhoea and two thirds followed upper respiratory infections. Many thought that the deterioration was simply due to bed-rest. Overall, about 6 % had experienced improvement during or after infections. With a few obvious exceptions, patients ' experience with acute anterior uveitis was similar. Since these earl