Lupus

inflammation of connective tissue marked by skin rashes, joint pain and swelling, inflammation of the kidneys and inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart.

Lupus, or Lupus erythematosus, is a disease of the immune system. It is chronic, which means it does not go away. It is an autoimmune disease, where the person's immune system attacks their own body.

Lupus erythematosus
Classification and external resources
ICD-10L93., M32.
ICD-9710.0
OMIM152700
DiseasesDB12782
MedlinePlus000435
eMedicinemed/2228 emerg/564
MeSHD008180
A hand-colored photo of 1886, showing a lupus-caused rash (the red parts in the photo)

The immune system is partly made up of white blood cells in your body that fight off disease. In lupus, these white blood cells think that the healthy cells of the body around them are diseased, so they end up attacking healthy parts of the body. Lupus can be deadly. It causes swelling and tissue damage, and can attack any part of the body. It most commonly affects the heart, joints, skin, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys and the brain/nervous system. Some symptoms include: fatigue, fever with no cause, hair loss, mouth sores, sensitivity to sunlight, a skin disease, and Raynaud's syndrome. There is treatment for lupus, called immunosuppression, which is medicine that stops the white blood cells from damaging healthy cells for a while. After a while, this medicine wears off, and then the white blood cells go back to hurting healthy parts of the body again. For the disease of lupus, there is no cure that stops the white blood cells from attacking healthy parts of the body forever, but doctors are not giving up on finding a cure.

Lupus takes its name from the Latin word "lupus", meaning wolf. This is because a lupus-caused rash on a person's face makes the person's face look like the face of a wolf. In the United States alone, there may be 270,000 to 1.5 million (1,500,000) people with lupus. Worldwide, it is estimated (not known for sure, but a good guess) that over 5 million (5,000,000) people living with lupus.[1] The disease mainly affects young women, but men can be affected as well.

Famous people with lupus

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References

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  1. "Lupus facts and statistics". Lupus Foundation of America.
  2. "Lupus disease: how Selena Gomez shone a light on a rare autoimmune disorder". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 2020-11-28. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  3. Jewett-Tennant, Jeri; MPH. "Famous People With Lupus Disease". Verywell Health.
  4. "Toni Braxton Reveals She Has Lupus, Gets Lady Gaga's Support". Billboard.
  5. Finn, Robin (5 June 1996). "At Lunch With: Seal; From a Crucible Of Early Pain Comes the Gold Of Stardom". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2017.