This invention provides compositions and methods for preventing inflammatory diseases of the joints, including rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, tendonitis, bursitis, inflammation of the ligament, synovitis, gout and systemic lupus erythematosus, wherein the methods include injecting into the inflamed joint a therapeutic anti-inflammatory composition comprising a bacterial or vial IL-10 expression construct, wherein the IL-10 expression construct comprises a bacterial or viral backbone and a nucleic acid sequence encoding interleukin-10.
