ARTHRITIS-GONOCOCCAL

SUMMARY

1. Pregnancy and menstruation are predisposing factors for disseminated gonorrhea. Consider in the adolescent with knee pain.

2. Patients with deficiency of terminal complement components are also at high risk.

3. Presentation: fever, migratory polyarthritis, tenosynovitis, and dermatitis (red papules that become pustular).

4. Joint aspirate may be sterile, adequate cultures require direct plating of the specimen on Thayer-Martin ("chocolate") agar or PCR.

Reference(s)

Wilkinson, I., Furmedge, D. and Sinharay, R. (2017). Oxford handbook of clinical medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Get it on Amazon.
Feather, A., Randall, D. and Waterhouse, M. (2020). Kumar And Clark’s Clinical Medicine. 10th ed. S.L.: Elsevier Health Sciences. Get it on Amazon.
Hannaman, R. A., Bullock, L., Hatchell, C. A., & Yoffe, M. (2016). Internal medicine review core curriculum, 2017-2018. CO Springs, CO: MedStudy.
Therapeutic Guidelines. Melbourne: Therapeutic Guidelines Limited. https://www.tg.org.au [Accessed 2021].