Reiter’s syndrome can be called as a group of symptoms including arthritis, conjunctivitis, urethritis and lesions of mucus membrane and skin and it is characterized by the inflammation of the joints, eyes, skin, genitals, bladder and mucus membranes. It may occur after the infections such as campylobacter, Chlamydia, yersinia or salmonella. A person with positive genetic factor HLA-B27 is more susceptible to this disorder.

The symptoms of Reiter’s syndrome are dependant on the body part which is affected by this disorder. Generally, the Reiter’s syndrome occurs after the inflammation of urinary tract or gastrointestinal tract. The arthritis related to the Reiter’s syndrome usually affects the ankles, knees and feet which causes swelling and pain in the joints. Fingers, wrists and other joints are less commonly affected. In addition to these symptoms, the patients with Reiter’s syndrome may develop the enthesopathy (inflammation of tendons) which may result in pain in heel and thickening and shortening of toes and fingers. Besides that, there may be possibility of development of heel spurs, a bony growth in the heel which may cause chronic pain in foot.

Arthritis in the Reiter’s syndrome may cause the damage to the joints in back and result in spondylitisn or sacroiliitis. The people with HLA-B27 gene are at greater risk of developing spondylitis or sacroiliitis. However, in most people, the joint inflammation caused due to Reiter’s syndrome does not result in the permanent damage or disability of the joints.

As Reiter’s syndrome is followed by the infection of genitourinary tract, the symptoms of Reiter’s syndrome are associated with the urogenital tract. It may affect penis, urethra and prostate in men and vagina, uterus and fallopian tubes in women. Men may experience increased frequency of urination with a burning sensation as well as discharge from the penis. Besides this, there is a possibility of developing prostatitis, inflammation of prostate gland in some cases. Women having the Reiter’s syndrome may develop the symptoms like an inflammation of the urethra (urethritis), which may result in burning sensation during micturition or an inflammation of the cervix (cervicitis).

As the Reiter’s syndrome can affect the eyes, conjunctivitis is one of the common symptoms of Reiter’s syndrome. It can cause the inflammation of conjunctiva and may result in eye pain and irritation, redness of the eyes and blurred vision.
In addition to these symptoms of Reiter’s syndrome, one can experience small, painless lesions or sores known as balanitis circinata may be seen on the roof of the tongue or mouth or on the head of penis.