This is a study from the good old days of arthritis research. The paper is from 1979 - Antibiotic treatment in Reiter's syndrome (now called Reactive Arthritis due to Hans Reiter's Nazi war crimes)

Not satisfied with the lack of data available on the use of antibiotics for treating Reactive Arthritis, two Canadian researchers from the University of British Columbia took it upon themselves to conduct a little experiment. They voluntarily infected themselves with ureaplasma, a bacteria known to cause Reactive Arthritis - "Dr David Taylor-Robinson and I inoculated our urethras with a cloned ureaplasma strain." Since they were giving themselves transmissible infections you'd think they might have discussed it with their wives first, but it turns out they didn't - "Within three days I had mild dysuria; three days later a definite urethritis, cystitis, and then arthralgia with heel pain that was quite sharp, so much so that I was hobbling around and had to tell my wife, who knew nothing about the experiment, that I had hurt it while gardening."

One of the researchers put up with 4 weeks of symptoms before starting antibiotics - "Dr. Taylor Robinson ignored the symptoms of urethritis for four weeks without treatment. During that time he got unequivocal angular conjunctivitis as well as marked cystitis and prostatitis." Because of the delay in treatment the infection persisted for 6 months. Since they were infecting themselves with a bacteria capable of causing severe arthritis in hla-b27+ individuals you'd think they would have tested for this first but they weren't too concerned about it - "Fortunately, neither of us was HLA-B27 positive. We had forgotten to test for this before the experiment."

I don't know what these guys were smoking when they did this experiment (since it was 1979 and they were from BC an educated guess can be made ) but I think that purposely infecting themselves with an arthritogenic bacteria, putting up with all sorts of nasty symptoms, risking the wrath from their wives, and risking severe arthritis, all in the name of arthritis research definitely earns these guys a nomination for the arthritis research hall of fame.

I agree with the nomination.
I cannot believe they did that to themselves, unbelievable.

What a pair of utter nut cases - <LOL> Even beats the Aussie who infected himself with H-Pylori to see if antibiotics would cure it - at least wasn't summat he could so easily have passed onto his wife (shakes heaad in wonderment!)

Yep - first prize that's for sure (One each...!!)

not to say i'd be so brave / careless! but he did win a nobel prize for his heroism / tomfoolery whichever way you look at it, it did move science forward.

I got my first arthritis symotoms after I got MRSA at the hospital I gave birth to my child at. I always think there is a connection but after trying 3 different antibiotcs for a year and only feeling worse, I couldn't hang on any longer the pain and swelling were too severe. In my mind I think there is some connection, maybe I just haven't found the right antibiotic.
Just a note, The bactrim I took cleared up the MRSA the first time I took it.Later on I started to get joint pain and swelling.

Again, those guys were crazy.