Het eponiem ‘Reiter’ zou beter verdwijnen

From 1977 onwards international appeals have been made to use the descriptive term ‘reactive arthritis’ instead of the eponym ‘Reiter’ in medical literature. However, contrary to English publications the Dutch medical literature is not showing any obvious decline in the use of this eponym. As well as the fact that Reiter was not the first to describe the triad of arthritis, urethritis and conjunctivitis, he also was responsible for lethal medical experiments conducted in concentration camps during World War II. Since these two facts do not warrant eponymous regard for Reiter, the author proposes that this eponym no longer should be used in Dutch medical vocabulary and that the descriptive term should be used instead.

Conflict of interest: none declared. Financial support: none declared.