Ellen expected her 20-year-old daughter Meghan to be a chatterbox while spending her junior year Spain. However, Meghan sounded worn out during each telephone call. After her trip, she was her old self for about a month, then began complaining of joint pains. Shortly before she returned to college for her senior year, a doctor diagnosed the problem: lupus. Since experts have never pinpointed the causes of lupus, doctors usually resort to a checklist of symptoms to diagnose it, according to the Mayo Clinic.
What is lupus?
The Lupus Foundation of America suggests that around 1.5 million individuals in the United States develop lupus each year. It’s an autoimmune disease that strikes patients of all races and backgrounds. However, most patients are between 15 and 44 when diagnosed.
One of the hallmarks of this inflammatory disease is its tendency to flare. Like Meghan, many patients experience symptoms for weeks or months followed by a remission. The disease can damage almost any part of the body-joints, skin or internal organs. When a patient experiences a flare, symptoms usually remain for at least six weeks. Sometimes they continue for years without interruption.
The process by which lupus operates is similar to that of other autoimmune diseases. The flawed immune system manufactures antibodies that destroy healthy body tissue. The patient then experiences inflammation, pain and damage to organs or parts affected. Regardless of whether a case is mild or life-threatening, a doctor should always be familiar with the patient and oversee regular care.
There are several types of lupus. The Mayo Clinic reports that systemic lupus erythematosus – also called SLE – is the most serious. It’s typically linked to problems with the skin, lungs, joints, kidneys and blood.
What are the probable causes and risk factors of lupus?
Experts have yet to get a handle on exactly what causes lupus and other autoimmune diseases. They suspect it’s the result of a combination of genetics and the environment. They maintain that patients can inherit a predisposition to lupus but not the disease itself. Under this theory, predisposed people only develop the disorder when they encounter something in the environment – perhaps a medication or a virus – that triggers the illness.
Researchers have identified a number of risk factors that can increase an individual’s chances of contracting lupus:
Sex. Females face an elevated risk of developing this inflammatory disease.
Age. The highest risk group in terms of age consists of individuals between 15 and 44 at the time of diagnosis. However, the disease strikes infants to senior citizens.
Race. African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians are particularly at risk.
Sun exposure. In susceptible individuals, exposure to sunlight can trigger lupus. These patients might experience internal problems or skin lesions. Scientists believe that sunlight can cause cells in the skin to express certain proteins. The patient’s antibodies grab these proteins, resulting in inflammation.
Prescription drugs. The use of specific drugs on a long-term basis appears to cause lupus in a small percentage of people. Examples include the antipsychotic chlorpromazine, medications like hydralazine (brand name Apresoline) for high blood pressure, isoniazad for tuberculosis and the health drug procainamide (Pronestyl, Procanbid), according to the Mayo Clinic. It can take months to years of usage for problems to develop in sensitive patients.
Epstein-Barr virus. Many American have been infected with the Epstein-Barr virus and never know it. After the initial incident, the virus remains dormant in the body until something reactivates it. Researchers have observed that recurrent Epstein-Barr infections appear to increase an individual’s risk of lupus but don’t know why.
Chemical exposure. Certain studies have reported a connection between individuals whose occupations required exposure to mercury and silica and developing lupus. Smoking cigarettes has also been blamed. However, definitive proof that chemicals cause or increase the risk of developing lupus is lacking.
Because identification of the exact causes of lupus remains elusive, doctors consider it a difficult condition to diagnose.
Sources:
Mayo Clinic site
Lupus Foundation of America site
