DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My 63-year-old daughter has a disease called Reiter’s syndrome. She can hardly use her left hand to write. She’s a lefty. Her knees are inflamed and swollen. She has trouble walking.

She is on prednisone and methotrexate, and they help, but not enough.

Will she ever get rid of this condition? I am very concerned. — E.S.

ANSWER: Reiter’s (rhymes with “writers”) is also known as reactive arthritis. It’s joint pain, swelling and stiffness that pops up after an infection at some other body location, not the joints. One to four weeks after the infection, which can be a digestive-tract infection with diarrhea, joints become involved. The knees are a prime target, as are the wrist and fingers. The spine and lower back also can come under attack.

Fatigue and a feeling of ill health are part of the picture. Sometimes the coverings of the eyes, the conjunctiva, are affected, and so too might be the tube that drains the urinary bladder, the urethra.

Frequently, patients with Reiter’s syndrome have a cell marker called B27 antigen. When present, it adds more evidence to the diagnosis of the syndrome.

Symptoms can last up to six months or even a year. Your daughter has to be patient. Most make a full recovery.

The two drugs your daughter takes are standard therapy. If they don’t work, backup drugs are available. Sulfasalazine is an example.

I appreciate your concern, but your daughter ought to do well, given time.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am concerned about my 29-year-old son. He has the HPV virus. He is depressed and says he can’t have a life — meaning marry and have a family. He drinks and takes drugs. I fear he might commit suicide. He has no insurance or income. Is this curable? Tell me about HPV and genital warts. — Anon.

ANSWER: Your son is overreacting in the extreme to something that doesn’t merit such a reaction. HPV is the human papillomavirus, an extremely common infection. For almost all, the warts it causes are gone in one to two years without any treatment. He can marry and have a family.

Treatment with podophyllin gel or liquid, or imiquimod cream usually is effective and not all that expensive. A doctor can freeze them off too.

Some strains of the HPV virus cause cervical cancer in women, a topic for another day.

I don’t know where you live, but in most metropolitan areas, clinics for sexually transmitted diseases are established. You son can see where the closest such facility is and ask if he qualifies for treatment. He also could work out arrangements with a family doctor to repay the doctor when he is back on his feet and employed.

I don’t mean to be snide about this, but where is this young man getting his money for alcohol and drugs? Those two substances are much more a threat to his health than is the HPV virus.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have a question about the HPV virus. Why doesn’t a condom protect against infection from the virus? — Anon

ANSWER: It does, but not perfectly. Viruses are very small, measured in nanometers — a billionth of a meter. They can pass through condoms and most other materials. Bacteria that cause sexually transmitted diseases are much larger, a millionth of a meter. Condoms are much more effective in preventing bacteria-caused sexually transmitted diseases.

I’m sorry, but I couldn’t read all that you wrote. Write again.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

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