Microorganisms of the bedsonia group have been isolated from the tissues of six of eight patients with Reiter's syndrome by a group of investigators at the University of California Medical Center, San Francisco.
In one patient, the isolate may be the agent of inclusion conjunctivitis. In the remaining five patients, the isolates appear to be previously undescribed members of the bedsonia group.
Intra-articular injection with the isolate from one of these five patients regularly produced arthritis in a group of four Macaca irius monkeys, Julius Schachter, PhD, told the annual meeting in Denver of the American Rheumatism Association.
The bedsonia could be re-isolated 60 days after injection from the monkeys' synovial membranes and from the liver, spleen, and other organs.
Caution Urged
Caution must be used in the interpretation of these isolation studies, said Ephraim P. Engleman, MD, who, with Dr. Schachter, presented the results of the California investigation. Their