R.: Reiter's disease: a report of two cases

REITER'S disease may be defined as a syndrome of unknown etiology, characterized by urethritis, conjunctivitis, and arthritis, with a tendency to recurrence.1 Two cases of this disease were encountered by the authors dur-ing the past year. They are being reported in this paper because they demonstrate certain features not previously described, because the literature on the subject is scant, and because many of our colleagues have shown themselves to be unaware of the existence of this syndrome, which may be readily confused with gonorrhea, rheumatic fever, the common type of in-fectious arthritis, and various local disorders of the genito-urinary tract, eyes and skin. The diagnosis of Reiter's disease depends entirely upon the clinical pic-ture and this will be briefly reviewed. Up to the present the disease has been recognized in young adult males only. At times a history of promiscuous sex contact shortly before the onset of symptoms is obtained; more frequently this is lacking. The presenting symptoms are urethral discharge, burnin