Did you know 23% of all adults—over 54 million people—have arthritis. About 24 million adults are limited in their activities from arthritis, and more than 1 in 4 adults with arthritis report severe joint pain. Arthritis is the swelling and tenderness of one or more of your joints. The main symptoms of arthritis are joint pain and stiffness, which typically worsen with age. Although more rare, autoinflammatory arthritis can cause significant pain and other symptoms. Here is some more information about autoinflammatory diseases, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Muscular and Skin Diseases.
What are autoinflammatory diseases?
Autoinflammatory diseases refer to problems with the immune system, which usually fights off viruses, bacteria, and infection. The problem causes your immune cells to attack your body by mistake. This can cause swelling that produces fever, rash, joint swelling, or serious buildup of a blood protein in your organs.
Points To Remember About Autoinflammatory Diseases
Autoinflammatory diseases refer to problems with the immune system, which usually fights off viruses, bacteria, and infection. It results when your immune cells attack your body by mistake.
Autoinflammatory diseases can cause fever, rash, swelling of joints and other tissues, and serious buildup of a blood protein in organs.
In most cases, your doctor will prescribe medications to reduce pain and swelling or that act on the immune system.
What causes autoinflammatory diseases?
Autoinflammatory diseases are typically caused by changes in certain genes. This causes problems with proteins that are important in specific body functions. For some diseases, the cause is unknown.
How are autoinflammatory diseases treated?
Treatments for autoinflammatory diseases can involve medications that:
Reduce swelling and pain.
Act on the immune system.