We studied characteristics of ocular inflammation associated with yersinia infection in six children, three boys and three girls, ranging in age between 4 and 14 years. Four patients developed acute anterior uveitis with aqueous flare and cells, small keratic precipitates, cells in the vitreous, and occasionally with fibrinous exudates, posterior synechiae and macular edema. The uveitis was unilateral in two patients and bilateral in two. In three 10- to 14-year-old patients the uveitis resolved during corticosteroid treatment in 3 to 8 (mean 6) weeks. In a 4-year-old girl with positive antinuclear antibody titers bilateral uveitis lasted for 17 weeks. Two uveitis patients had recurrent episodes. Two patients had mucopurulent bilateral mild conjunctivitis which resolved in 3 to 5 days. All patients had symptoms of reactive arthritis and one had sacroiliitis. All tested patients were HLA-B27 positive. Our results indicate that in HLA-B27 positive children, especially after the age of 10 years, yersinia infection may occasionally trigger reactive iritis or conjunctivitis which often occur together with other HLA-B27 associated rheumatic diseases.

Due to geographic and genetic differences the aetiology and clinical picture of uveitis, and the frequency of different types of uveitis vary in different parts of the world. Therefore the results of a uveitis survey done in one uveitis research centre cannot be directly applied to other parts of the world. A discussion of experts from different regions of the world will show new facets of the disease, since the ophthalmological traditions, research interests, and clinical decisions in the diagnosis and treatment may differ from country to country.The purpose of the International Uveitis Study Group (IUSG) is to serve as an international forum for the discussion of the classification, terminology, epidemiology, aetiology, pathogenesis, clinical findings, diagnosis, and treatment of uveitis. IUSG carries into effect its purpose in workshops where uveitis research workers meet each other for the discussion of the uveitis problems Meetings of IUSG