Extent of fulfilment of potential criteria for determining whether a micro-organism is a cause of a particular type of arthritis
| Criterion | Lyme arthritis | Arthritis in hypogammaglobulinaemia (mycoplasmas) | Reactive arthritis | Chronic inflammatory arthritides | Juvenile chronic arthritis C.pn. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.u. | Other mycoplasmas | C.t. | C.pn. | M.f. | U.u. | Other mycoplasmas | C.t. | ||||||
| 1. Detection by molecular method | ++ | ++ | + | + | +++1-150 | − | +++ | ++ | + | + | + | ||
| 2. Isolation by culture | ++ | +++ | − | + | − | − | ++ | − | + | − | − | ||
| 3. Detection in sequential samples | ? | +++ | ?− | ?− | ?− | ?− | + | ? | ? | ? | ++ | ||
| 4. Detection in early disease | +++ | +++ | ++ | ? | +++ | ? | ++ | ? | ? | ++ | + | ||
| 5. Consensus among investigators | +++ | +++ | + | ? | + | ? | ++ | ? | ? | − | ? | ||
| 6. Specific antibody response | +++ | NA | ? | ? | +++ | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ++ | ||
| 7. Cellular proliferative response | +++ | ? | ++ | ? | ++ | ++ | + | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 8. Response of arthritis to appropriate antibiotic treatment | ++ | ++ | ? | ? | + | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 9. Prevention or improvement of disease by appropriate vaccine | ? | + | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
U.u. = Ureaplasma urealyticum; C.t. =Chlamydia trachomatis;C.pn. = Chlamydia pneumoniae; M.f. =Mycoplasma fermentans; −, +, ++, +++ = No, weak, moderate, strong fulfilment of criterion, respectively; ? = Still questionable because of little or no information; ?− = Questionably negative because of few opportunities for sequential samples;
↵1-150 = Also detected by direct immunofluorescence techniques.