Post-yersinotic Reiter's disease in a physician treated with osmium tetroxide.

A case of general yersinosis in a male physician is described. Most probably the infection was acquired nosocomially in a paediatric ward. The infection affected several organs including the liver, but osmium tetroxide was nevertheless used to perform chemical synovectomy in a knee joint suffering from active arthritis. The arthritis was cured, and the already existing liver affection did not progress. The only complaint from the patient, months after the osmic acid injection, was a strong metallic taste on the tongue. More than a year after the intra-articular injection, the metallic taste disappeared. The amount of osmium in the patient's blood was then calculated to be less than 100 molecules of osmium per ml blood.