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Serum‐Sickness‐Like Disease is a Common Cause of Acute Arthritis in Children
Author(s) -
KUNNAMO I.,
KALLIO P.,
PELKONEN P.,
VIANDER M.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1986.tb10324.x
Subject(s) - medicine , arthritis , penicillin , incidence (geometry) , serum sickness , disease , prospective cohort study , pediatrics , immunology , antibody , antibiotics , optics , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , physics
. Among 283 children in a prospective study of arthritis we found 15 patients with a self‐limited serum‐sickness‐like disease consisting of urticaria or joint erythema and mostly polyarticular arthritis. The mean duration of joint symptoms was 5.9 days. A preceding infection was reported in 12 patients and 12 had received drugs, the therapy starting on average 12.8 days before the onset of joint symptoms. In 9 cases the drug was penicillin. Four patients had recurrent attacks. Circulating immune complexes were detected in the serum of 12 patients, but specific IgE antibodies to penicillin only in 3 patients. The estimated annual incidence of the condition was 4.7/1 children under age 16.