1 Pediatric Arthritis Clinic and Rehabilitation Service, the Rackham Arthritis Research Unit, and the Departments of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases and Internal Medicine, the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, and the Section of Clinical Immunology, Research and Development Division, Parke, Davis and Company, Detroit
Viral antibody titers to rubella and rubeola were examined in 192 patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and compared to data from children with other connective tissue diseases, hospitalized children with non-connective tissue diseases, and normal children. Analysis of positive sera indicated that children with JRA had geometric mean titers for rubella that were similar to those observed in normal children and in children with other connective tissue diseases. Their titers for rubeola were lower than those in normal children. Viral antibody titers were correlated in patients with JRA to certain serum immunoglobulin concentrations. Rubella titers were associated with type of onset of arthritis. It is concluded that these data do not support a direct relationship between infection with either of these myxoviruses and development of JRA.
Submitted on December 28, 1972