Abstract

Military personnel are at increased risk of suffering Reactive Arthritis (ReA), with enteric or genitourinary organisms usually providing the triggering immunogenic precipitant. Presentation is difficult to discern from other causes of joint pain, and clinicians should always identify possible preceding infection and extra-articular symptoms and signs. This clinical review describes ReA and how this debilitating condition affects military personnel in terms of prevalence, pathological origins, presentation and treatment.

It will review the risk factors, organisms involved and operational threats that permit ReA to occur and flourish. Diagnosis and management are described, along with current pharmacological therapies in this little-researched condition, and a therapeutic regime is discussed. Prevention of infectious outbreaks can limit this incapacitating condition in military personnel.