Absence of Relationship of Fecal Clostridium perfringens to Rheumatoid Arthritis and Rheumatoid Variants

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 128; no. 4; pp. 559 - 562
• Main Authors: Sapico, F. L., Emori, H., Smith, L. DS, Bluestone, R., Finegold, S. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The University of Chicago Press 01.10.1973; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Antitoxins; Antitoxins - analysis; Arthritis; Arthritis - microbiology; Arthritis, Reactive - microbiology; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - blood; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - etiology; Arthritis, Rheumatoid - microbiology; Clostridium Infections - complications; Clostridium perfringens; Clostridium perfringens - isolation & purification; Clostridium perfringens - pathogenicity; Feces; Feces - microbiology; Female; Flora; Gouty arthritis; Humans; Inoculation; Male; Psoriasis - microbiology; Reiter syndrome; Rheumatoid arthritis; Scleroderma, Systemic - microbiology; Spondylitis, Ankylosing - microbiology; Toxins
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/128.4.559

The relationship of fecal Clostridium perfringens to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and rheumatoid variants (RV) was studied in 43 subjects, 22 of whom had RA and seven of whom had RV. Controls included seven healthy persons and seven with gouty arthritis. No increased counts of fecal C. perfringens and no elevation of serum titers of a-antitoxin to C. perfringens were found in either the group with RA or the group with RV compared with controls. The C. perfringens isolates from the groups with RA and RV did not differ from the control isolates in sensitivity to heat, fermentation of inulin or salicin, toxigenicity, or digestion of casein. In contrast to the findings of previous investigators, these data do not support a possible role of C. perfringens in rheumatoid arthritis or its variants.