Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Dec 31;19(1):2173912.
doi: 10.1080/21645515.2023.2173912. Epub 2023 Feb 6.

Reactive arthritis after vaccination against SARS-CoV-2: A case series and a mini-review

Wiktoria Wojturska  1 , Jarosław Nowakowski  2 , Weronika Pilch  1 , Małgorzata Biernikowicz  1 , Mariusz Korkosz  2
Affiliations
Review

Reactive arthritis after vaccination against SARS-CoV-2: A case series and a mini-review

Wiktoria Wojturska et al. Hum Vaccin Immunother. .

Abstract

The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines became essential for addressing the global pandemic. Reactive arthritis after vaccination has been a rare phenomenon. Here, we present a case series of three patients with joint inflammation possibly attributed to COVID-19 immunization (mRNA and live adenovirus vectored vaccine). Symptoms were alleviated using non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs and glucocorticoids. After follow-up, the patients have not been diagnosed with any other rheumatic disease. Reactive arthritis after the COVID-19 vaccine is an unusual adverse effect and poses a negligible risk in comparison to the benefits of immunization, but it should be considered in differential diagnostics by a practicing rheumatologist who cares for patients with new-onset arthritis without apparent cause at the time of pandemic.

Keywords: COVID vaccination; Reactive arthritis; adverse effect.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

References

    1. Schmitt SK. Reactive arthritis. Infect Dis Clin North Am. 2017;31(2):265–3. doi:10.1016/j.idc.2017.01.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bekaryssova D, Yessirkepov M, Zimba O, Gasparyan AY, Ahmed S.. Reactive arthritis before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clin Rheumatol. 2022;41(6):1641–52. doi:10.1007/s10067-022-06120-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Selmi C, Gershwin ME. Diagnosis and classification of reactive arthritis. Autoimmun Rev. 2014;13(4–5):546–49. doi:10.1016/j.autrev.2014.01.005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Velikova T, Georgiev T. SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and autoimmune diseases amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Rheumatol Int. 2021;41(3):509–18. doi:10.1007/s00296-021-04792-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dawoud R, Haddad D, Shah V, Patel V, Abbas G, Guduru S, Dakka A, Kaushik V, Cheriyath P. COVID-19 vaccine-related arthritis: a descriptive study of case reports on a rare complication. Cureus. Published online July 9, 2022. 10.7759/cureus.26702 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources