Epidemic Polyarthritis in Northeastern Australia, 1978–1979

In a study of epidemic polyarthritis in central and northern Queensland, clinical disease was observed most frequently in urban-dwelling adult females. Clinical and subclinical infections were detected year round, although the majority of clinical infections occurred between the months of January and June. In the communities studied, there were approximately 50 subclinical infections for each clinical infection. There was no detectable association between any HLA-A or HLA-B phenotypes and epidemic polyarthritis.