The French term of spondylose rhizome'lique, (or arthrose de la colonne vertebrale), Spondylarthrite ankylosante, pelvispondylite rhuma-tismale, spondylose rhizomelique, maladie de Bechterew [22], is better known in today's literature as ankylosing spondylitis or Vladimir Bechterew, Pierre Marie and Ernst Adolf Gustav Gottfried von Strumpell disease [23].
Surprisingly, the previous 1904 Gerspachen's article on tuberculose spondyloartritis, gives a full detailed description of the various etiologies for spondylitis, and among the cited 48 references, we find the names of Leri, Marie, Babinski, Forestier, Brissaud, Strumpell, von Bechterew, and Grancher [26,27].
In 1929 article we can find this statement: "Thirty-five years ago von- Bechterew wrote the first of a series of papers which described a syndrome consisting of stiff spine, nerve root pains, nerve root degeneration, alterations of sensation and muscle atrophies of a radicular distribution, which he ascribed to a pachymeningitis and compression of the nerve roots.
As a child, the famous Czech author, Karel Capek, suffered from scarlet fever, and later developed Bechterew disease: he often complained of head and spinal pain, and suffered from typical spinal deformity.
Several HLA antigens are associated with various diseases, and probably the strongest association known is that between the HLA-B27 antigen and rheumatic diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis (also known as
Bechterew disease), Reiter syndrome, and acute anterior uveitis [1].