Lupus

What is lupus?

Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect various parts of the body, especially, the skin, joints, blood and kidneys. The bodys immuno system normally, gives and makes proteins called antibodies that protect the body of viruses.In an autoimmune disease like lupus, the mmune system loses its ability for distinguish between antigens and its own cells and tissues. these antigens accumulate in teh tissues and cause inflammation, tissue damage and lot of pain. In most patients, lupus is a mild disease that affects a fw organs. It may cause seirous problems and even life threatening.

Types of Lupus

There are three types:

Discoid: always limited to the skin, it is idenfied by a rash that can appear on the face, neck and scalp. It is diagnosed by a biopsy.

Systemic: Systemic lupus is usually more serius than discoid because it affect almost any organ or body system. In some people, only the skin and joints are affected.

And the drug-induced lupus: that occurs after the use of certain measurements prescribed for other diseases. Its symptoms are similar to systemic lupus. Drugs commonly associated with this type of lupus are hydralazine and procainamide.