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עמוד בית
Tue, 10.12.24

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April 2008
Y. Keynan and D. Rimar
 Reiter’s syndrome is an eponym used to denote the triad of arthritis, urethritis and conjunctivitis. This syndrome is named after Hans Conrad Julius Reiter, who was involved in the activities of the Nazi Racial Hygiene Program related to involuntary sterilization, euthanasia and criminal research projects. Reiter defamed the entire medical profession and it was therefore suggested that the term Reiter’s syndrome be changed to reactive arthritis. We undertook to investigate the use of the eponym Reiter syndrome in medical literature, medical schools in Israel and medical textbooks, compared to the term reactive arthritis, by searching Medline between the years 2003 and 2007, 14 current medical textbooks, curricula of four medical schools in Israel, and computerized patient file systems in Israel. We found a decline in the use of the eponym in articles published between 2003 (18%) and 2007 (9%); however, most textbooks (13/14) still use the eponym. Two of the four medical schools in Israel continue to use the eponym. The eponym appears in the computerized patient files of all four healthcare providers in Israel. We hold that the continued use of the eponym Reiter syndrome in medical textbooks, medical schools and computerized patients files in Israel is honoring an abomination and is inconsistent with medical principles. Awareness is still lacking and we suggest deleting the Reiter syndrome eponym from use, and replacing it with the more appropriate term – reactive arthritis.
July 2006
D. Rimar, Y. Rimar and Y. Keynan
 Today, more than 10 years and 2000 articles since human herpesvirus 8 was first described by Chang et al., novel insights into the transmission and molecular biology of HHV-8[1] have unveiled a new spectrum of diseases attributed to the virus. The association of HHV-8 with proliferative disorders – including Kaposi's sarcoma, multicentric Castleman disease and primary effusion lymphoma – is well established. Other aspects of HHV-8 infection are currently the subject of accelerated research. Primary HHV-8 infection may manifest as a mononucleosis-like syndrome in the immunocompetent host, or in various forms in the immunocompromised host. The association of HHV-8 with primary pulmonary hypertension was observed by Cool et al. in 2003, but six clinical trials evaluating the role of HHV-8 in pulmonary hypertension have not been able to replicate this intriguing observation. It has been speculated that HHV-8 may secondarily infect proliferating endothelium in patients with pulmonary hypertension. HHV-8 epidemiology, modes of transmission, new spectrum of disease and treatment are presented and discussed.







[1] HHV-8 = human herpesvirus 8


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