Experimental bedsonial arthritis

A bedsonia isolated from the joint of a patient with Reiter's syndrome produced arthritis when injected into the knees of Macaca mulatta or New Zealand white rabbits. The monkeys developed an acute self‐limited arthritis that resolved within 11 to 49 days. Symptoms were limited to the injected joints. Reinoculation of the same joints produced a similar arthritis, indicating that repeated exposure neither enhances nor diminishes clinical response. Repeated intraurethral inoculation produced urethritis in 1 macaque, and the organism was recovered from the urethra. Infected rabbits developed a chronic arthritis. Bedsonial infection and disease in the rabbit were disseminated from joint to eye and from joint to selected viscera. Viable multiplying organisms were essential to produce arthritis, and treatment with tetracycline before agent inoculation prevented disease. Bedsonial organisms other than those recovered from Reiter's syndrome also caused arthritis when injected into the knees of monkeys or rabbits.