ATLANTA (Reuters Health) - Certain types of intestinal bacteria could be linked to the development and progression of rheumatoid arthritis, according to the results of a new study.

In rheumatoid arthritis, the body's immune system attacks joint tissues, leading to damage in many parts of the body, including bone, cartilage and various internal organs. The disease can cause severe disabilities, particularly in older people, and its exact causes are still not known.

Recent attention has been focused on the role that bacteria living in the intestines might play in rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers suggest different types of intestinal bacteria and their end products could be responsible for stimulating the development of the disease in other parts of the body.

Scientists from Turku University in Finland recently conducted a study comparing fecal samples from 25 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 23 "control" patients without the disease who were suffering from noninflammatory pain.

Dr. Paavo Toivanen, a microbiologist working on the study, presented the findings here Monday at the 2002 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

"Rheumatoid arthritis patients were in the early stage of the disease, were not using any immunosuppressives, and were excluded from the study if they indicated previous usage of antibiotics within the last 2 months," he told Reuters Health.

Using chemical probes based on a technique developed in their laboratory, the scientists were able to identify a variety of anaerobic bacterial strains, which represent one third to one half of all the bacteria residing in the intestine. "Anaerobic" means the bacteria do not need oxygen to survive.

The researchers found that rheumatoid arthritis patients had markedly less bacteria belonging to the Bacteroides, Prevotella and Porphyromonas families in their guts than controls (4.7% versus 9.5%, respectively), and this result was confirmed using one of the bacteria-specific probes.

Toivanen suggested these strains could be important in maintaining a barrier for the intestinal wall. "These bacteria may initially be necessary to fortify the intestinal epithelium," or lining, Toivanen concluded.

Patients with less of these bacteria in their intestines may have a weaker intestinal barrier, he and his colleagues suggest, which could somehow predispose them to developing rheumatoid arthritis.

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