Immunological features in reactive arthritis after salmonella infection

In this study immunological features in salmonella arthritis were evaluated in order to analyse possible differences between salmonella arthritis and yersinia arthritis. In a single serum sample taken 2½ months after the beginning of the infection increased specific IgG and IgA responses typical for yersinia arthritis could not be observed in salmonella arthritis. The persistence of the antibody responses was not studied. The measurement of specific IgG antibodies by ELISA proved to be a much better indicator of a past Salmonella typhimurium infection than the classical Widal agglutination test. The lymphocyte transformation responses to salmonella antigen were significantly higher in subjects with salmonella arthritis than in non-arthritic subjects who had suffered from salmonellosis; patients with yersinia arthritis showed a depressed response to yersinia antigen. This discrepancy might be due to differences in the host response in human Salmonella typhimurium and yersinia infections.