
microbiological studies of reiter's disease
attempts were made to demonstrate viruses and
pplo in body fluids and synovial tissues of patients
with various rheumatic diseases.  all attempts to
demonstrate viruses were negative.  pplo were
looked for in 499 specimens from 114 patients with
rheumatic and non-rheumatic diseases.  whereas
these organisms were readily isolated from genito-
urinary specimens, they were found in none of 31
synovial fluid specimens.  they could not be grown
from synovial tissue biopsies of patients with
rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gout,
gonococcal arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, traumatic
arthritis, or arthritis accompanying ulcerative colitis,
but they were present in one and possibly in two of
eight synovial tissue specimens from patients with
reiter's disease.  complement-fixation tests were
negative in nine patients with reiter's disease,
including the two from whose synovial tissues
pplo were thought to have been isolated.
