Arthritis, syphilitic

Syphilitic Arthritis

The incidence of syphilitic joint disease has been declining steadily. When it does occur it is usually a manifestation of congenital syphilis. Direct invasion of the synovium by Treponema pallidum is relatively uncommon.

Congenital syphilis may be manifested in the joints in one of three ways: 

1. Acute epiphysitis or osteochondritis which usually occurs in the first few weeks of life, and most commonly affects the upper portion of the humerus, resulting in painful para-articular swelling which is sometimes associated with a flaccid paralysis of the arm—Parrot's pseudoparalysis
2. Clutton's joints, a painless bilateral hydrarthrosis of the knees, which develops between the ages of 8 and 16 years
3. Rarely, by neuropathic arthropathy secondary to tabes dorsalis (which is much more often the consequence of non congenital syphilis). 

Arthritis occurs infrequently during the secondary stage of acquired syphilis and may resemble rheumatic fever. Approximately 5% to 10% of patients with tabes dorsalis develop neuropathic arthropathy as a late complication of the disease. Gummata of the joints are a rarity. 

Symptoms 

• Swelling
• Tenderness
• restricted range of motion in the affected joints.

How to diagnose syphilitic arthritis?

• The diagnosis of syphilitic arthritis is made primarily on the basis of the characteristic clinical pattern, supported by other stigmata of the infection, plus positive sérologie or spinal fluid findings. 
• The laboratory data, while helpful, cannot be used as the sole criterion, since false-positive and false-negative findings occur, although these have become less frequent as a result of the development of new and improved sérologie tests for more specific antibodies. 

Rheumatoid arthritis is a persistent provocative problem that can influence something other than your joints.

In contrast to the mileage harm of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis influences the lining of your joints, causing a difficult growing that can ultimately bring about bone disintegration and joint distortion.

The aggravation related with rheumatoid arthritis is the thing that can harm different pieces of the body also. While new sorts of prescriptions have improved treatment choices drastically, serious rheumatoid arthritis can in any case cause actual inabilities.

Symptoms Involving Rheumatoid Arthritis

Signs and indications of rheumatoid arthritis may include:

• Delicate, warm, swollen joints
• Joint firmness that is normally more regrettable in the mornings and after dormancy
• Exhaustion, fever and loss of hunger

Early rheumatoid arthritis will in general influence your more modest joints first — especially the joints that connect your fingers to your hands and your toes to your feet.

As the sickness advances, indications regularly spread to the wrists, knees, lower legs, elbows, hips and shoulders.

Influence of this disease

Around 40% individuals who have rheumatoid arthritis additionally experience signs and manifestations that don't include the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis can influence numerous non-joint structures, including:

• Skin
• Eyes
• Lungs
• Heart
• Kidneys
• Salivary organs
• Nerve tissue
• Bone marrow
• Veins

Rheumatoid arthritis signs and side effects may shift in seriousness and may even go back and forth. Times of expanded infection movement, called flares, substitute with times of relative reduction — when the growing and torment blur or vanish. Over the long haul, rheumatoid arthritis can make joints distort and move strange.