[Inflammatory rheumatic disorders during the course of secondary syphilis (author's transl)]

A 46-year-old man presented signs of secondary syphilis, including a skin eruption, multiple adenopathies, and alopecia. The diagnosis was confirmed by positive serological and Nelson's tests. Inflammatory arthritic signs developed in a few joints two weeks after the onset of the skin eruption, affecting mainly the left wrist, right sternoclavicular joint, lumbar spine, and right shoulder and hip joints, which were painful and stiff. Tests for a rheumatic origin, especially urethral smears and HLA B27 antigen, were negative. The articular manifestations disappeared completely after 8 to 10 days of penicillin. Rheumatic disorders from secondary syphilis affect one or several of the large joints, and quite frequently the sternoclavicular joints, the clinical, radiological, and biological characteristics showing no particular features. Diagnosis is based on the exclusion of other causes for the rheumatic disorder, total rapid regression after penicillin alone, and the simultaneous appearance of the affections.