Suppurative Arthritis Complicating Rheumatoid Arthritis

In recent years we have observed 12 patients with rheumatoid arthritis who developed severe and sometimes fatal bacterial infection in connective-tissue structures. In nine cases this was mainly a suppurative arthritis, which was often polyarticular; in two cases the infection was mainly in the bones; and in the remaining case there were multiple subcutaneous and muscular abscesses. This complication of rheumatoid arthritis is therefore not uncommon, and since it presents some dia- gnostic and therapeutic problems and is a grave threat to life it seemed desirable to report our experience with these patients in some detail, especially as we have been unable to find any previous report of a similar series.