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Lupus overview

Lupus represents an autoimmune disease – the result of the immune system's attack against the body's own healthy tissues – and it affect a person's heart, lungs, kidneys, articulations, skin and blood cells. It has a chronic inflammatory character and mostly affects women.

Recent research brought to light new ways to diagnose and treat lupus, which helps the affected persons to have active and normal existences.

There are three major types of lupus: systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), discoid lupus erythematosus and drug-induced lupus. The most frequently encountered and also the most severe is SLE; it usually generates skin rash, pain and inflammation of the articulations, severe tiredness and damage of the kidneys. There are also rare cases of another form of the disease, neonatal lupus erythematosus, in which the apparently healthy mother passes antibodies to her newly born baby, in the birth process.

Factors of risk

This disease may attack anyone, at any age, but the most frequent factors of risk are represented by:

• * Age. The most affected category of people is that between 15 and 45 years of age. But no age is safe when it comes to lupus: it even affects babies, children and old people.
• * Sex. Women are significantly more affected by lupus than men (about 90%)
• * The racial factor. American black population has much higher chances to be affected by lupus and at earlier ages; even the complications that come with this disease are more serious in their case. Other very exposed categories are those of Hispanics, American Indians and Asians. Black population also presents more recurrences of viral infections involving Epstein-Barr.
• * Pregnancy. This disease often announces its presence when a woman is pregnant or has recently given birth. Pregnancy may also make it more serious.
• * Epstein-Barr viral infections. These types of infections are extremely frequent: almost every one of us has at least one in a lifetime. This virus belongs to the herpes class. What causes the dormant remaining virus to favor the apparition of lupus is beyond our knowledge. Usually, after it infects the body, generating sore throat or fever, the Epstein –Barr remains latent for a very long time.
• * The genetic factor. Persons that have lupus cases in their families are more at risk than others to develop the condition themselves.

When is it necessary to see a doctor?

You should worry and immediately see a doctor in case you have a persistent high body temperature, continuous aches, an abnormal, constant fatigue or a skin rash that has unknown causes. In case you are already aware that you have lupus, it is extremely important for you to be constantly in touch with your healthcare professional, in order to enable him/ her to keep your lupus and its treatment under observation. Due to the fact that lupus is a disease with a large variety of symptoms, the doctor should know about any possible change in your symptoms, such as the apparition of one of the following:

• * Seizures
• * High body temperature
• * Blood in your feces
• * Pericarditis or pleuritis- generated chest pain
• * Severe pain in the abdomen
• * Headache of unusual severity, accompanied by fever and a painful neck
• * Abnormal hemorrhage anywhere on your body