[Viremia in children with rheumatoid arthritis]

The blood specimens from 22 children with rheumatoid arthritis, 57 children with other chronic diseases and 30 apparently normal children were tested for the presence of Coxsackie A and B, adeno, and rubella viruses by the method of co-cultivation of patient's lymphocytes with continuous HEp-2 cell culture. Children with chronic diseases were found to have viremia much more frequently than normal children. The frequency of finding of different viruses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (86.4%) significantly exceeded that in healthy children (20%). These patients had rubella and adeno 5 viruses in their blood more frequently than children in the other groups under study. Repeated examinations of 14 patients with rheumatoid arthritis at intervals of 1 year or longer revealed in 11 of them the same viruses as those identified in initial examinations. Persistence of some viruses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis is discussed.