Lupus is a state of chronic swelling caused by an autoimmune sickness. Autoimmune diseases are illnesses which take place when the body's tissues are attacked by its own immune system. The immune system is a compound system within the body that is intended to struggle infectious agents, for example, bacteria, and other foreign invaders. One of the mechanisms that the immune system uses to fight infections is the production of antibodies. Patients with lupus produce abnormal antibodies in their blood that target tissues within their own body rather than foreign infectious agents. Lupus can cause disease of the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, joints, and nervous system. When only the skin is involved, the condition is called discoid lupus. When internal organs are involved, the condition is called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Both discoid and systemic lupuses are more common in women than men (about eight times more common). The disease can affect all ages but most commonly begins from age 20 to 45 years. It is more frequent in African-Americans and people of Chinese and Japanese descent. (Boumpas DT, Austin HA, Fessler BJ, et al (1995)
SLE is a long-standing inflammation disease affecting a lot of systems of the body. The disease includes ruthless swelling of the blood vessels, kidney disorders, and tumors of the skin and nervous system. The cause of the disease is not known. Four times more women than men have SLE. Also called disseminated lupus erythematosus, lupus erythematosus. The first sign is often arthritis. A red rash over the nose and cheeks, weakness, fatigue, and weight loss are also often seen early in the disease. Sensitivity to light, fever, skin sores on the neck and loss of hair where the sores reach beyond the hairline may occur. The skin sores may spread to the mucous membranes and other tissues of the body.........
