The Primary Cause of Rheumatoid Arthritis Is an Infection—the Infectious Agent Exists in Milk

Abstract

The theory of an infection as the primary cause of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been discussed periodically since more than four decades. The present author has made investigations on this problem over a period of many years. Several clinical symptoms, particularly as regards the findings in the joint fluid and in the granulation tissue, speak in favour of this opinion. Experimental research on animals with the aim of provoking an arthritis similar to RA has lent considerable support to the theory of an infection as the basis for RA. In my opinion the arthritis provoked by a type of Diplostreptococcus agalactiae belonging to the streptococci group B constitutes the condition of experimental arthritis most similar to human RA. In this respect it is important to consider that the experimental arthritis provoked by agalactiae is combined with the production of a hemagglutinating macroglobulin which, with our present methods, cannot be differentiated from the human rheumatoid factor (RF). We have long been engaged at our Institute in research into the source of infection. In our opinion it is a question of a milk infection and, as most milk consumed is pasteurized, the infection for the most part derives from pasteurized milk. In this connection it is important to emphasize that agalactiae cocci are resistant to the temperature used for pasteurizing milk. Furthermore, agalactiae can be cultivated from the nasopharynx in about 75–80% of RA cases. All RA patients investigated showed antibodies to agalactiae cultivated from the nasopharynx and from milk as well. Experimental arthritis and a rheumatoid‐factor‐like macroglobulin can be produced by the agalactiae cocci cultivated from pasteurized milk.

Review: Microbiome in Inflammatory Arthritis and Human Rheumatic Diseases

“…A classic example is sulfasalazine. This drug, which was rationally designed to combine an antibacterial sulfonamide with a salicylate through an azo bond , was ultimately deemed a disease‐modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) and approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of RA, IBD, and AS. Other medications with antibiotic properties (hydroxychloroquine and tetracyclines) have also been included in the therapeutic armamentarium for RA.…”

The microbiome and rheumatoid arthritis

“…In the 1940s, sulfasalazine became the first rationally designed drug in the field of rheumatology. As RA was thought to be caused by streptococci found in milk, 80 sulfasalazine was created as a deliberate attempt to combine a sulfonamide antibiotic with a salicylate anti-inflammatory agent through an azo bond. This ‘combination therapy’ showed good initial results in RA, 81 before sulfasalazine went out of use for several decades (although it remained as standard of care for IBD).…”

The Gut Microbiota and Inflammation in Rheumatoid Arthritis

“…Such "combination therapy" brought up good initial responses in RA as well as enteropathies. The triple DMARD therapy (a combination of methotrexate, sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine) currently stands among the irst few recommendations in RA patients with poor prognostic features and moderate to high levels of disease activity [17][18][19][20][21].…”