Reiter's disease, responding to methotrexate

Abstract

No specific therapy exists for Reiter's disease. Urethritis is usually treated with a course of tetracycline though the aetiological agent remains obscure. Drug treatment for arthritis consists of phenylbutazone or indomethacin; corticosteroid therapy is indicated only when the disease is progressive and this is usually associated with severe keratoderma and marked weight loss. Farber et al (1967) reported the successful use of methotrexate in patients with Reiter's disease, particularly those with crippling and incapacitating arthritis. In this report, methotrexate was exhibited primarily to control the keratoderma blenorrhagica in a man of 34 which markedly improved.