Viruses

Recent research has indicated that viruses may be the trigger for some types of arthritis. Certain viruses can lie dormant in the body for long periods. The suspected arthritis virus may be dormant and then become active and activate the body’s system. Somehow the virus tricks the lymphocytes, and, in addition to attacking the virus, the immune system attacks the body tissue itself. This starts a destructive chain reaction, and the virus slips away, undetected, possibly settling in another part of the body to do more damage.

One virus that may be involved in the arthritis process been identified as the Epstein Barr virus (EBV). This is the same virus responsible for infectious mononucleosis. By the time most people are 30 years old they have the EBV antibodies (elements the body has produced to fight off the EBV) in their blood. This means that, the EBV at one time infected them but their systems effectively fought it off without any symptoms of diseases appearing. While not proven some scientists suspect that the presence of the EBV, perhaps combined with an inherited susceptibility, may lead to rheumatoid arthritis.

Bacteria

Bacteria are more complex organisms than viruses. Some forms or arthritis, called infectious arthritis, are caused by direct bacterial Infection of the joint. Early diagnosis of a bacterial joint infection is critical since infectious arthritis can be cured by the administration of antibiotics that kill the bacteria before the joint is damaged permanently.

Researchers have evidence that bacteria can also indirectly trigger arthritic disease. One example is the arthritis developing in some patients after intestinal bypass operations. This form of arthritis appears to be caused by bacteria that would normally be expelled from the body through the bowel, now escaping from the shortened intestine and slipping into the bloodstream. The bacteria trigger the immune system and trick it into attacking body tissue. One form of bypass arthritis closely resembles rheumatoid arthritis.

Bacteria may also indirectly trigger another form of arthritis known as Reiter’s syndrome. In 1962 an epidemic of bacterial dysentery occurred among the crew members of the U.S. Navy cruiser Little Rock. Out of the hundreds of sailors affected by diarrhea, 10 subsequently developed Reiter’s syndrome. The solution to this puzzle was found 15 years later when it was discovered that some of the men who developed Reiter’s syndrome carried the genetic marker known as HLA B27 on their cells. Therefore, it appears that the bacteria were the trigger for Reiter’s syndrome only in those men who were genetically predisposed.