A young man with oligoarthritis preceded by urethritis and diarrhea

Abstract

Reactive arthritis is a form of seronegative spondyloarthritis temporally triggered by an apparent infection, usually gastroenteritis or urethritis. This arthritis typically starts within a few weeks of the inciting infection. It commonly affects young adults and is strongly associated with the MHC class I antigen HLA-B27. Here we present an interesting case of young man with HLA-B27 positive reactive arthritis in whom the presumptive diagnosis was reached early in the course of his illness.