Rheumatoid Arthritis: Understanding the Disease
Rheumatoid arthritis is an immunological illness characterized by chronic inflammation of the joints and other body parts. The patient may suffer flares and remissions as a result of the disease's symptoms. Rheumatoid arthritis typically affects the patient's joints, resulting in irreversible joint deterioration and deformity. Rheumatoid arthritis has no known cause, although research has shown that those who carry the HLA common epitope are more likely to develop the disease (Okada et al., 2014). The illness attacks the genetic marker that governs immune responses. The disease is detected through a blood test that is used to check for the rheumatoid factor, which is an antibody present in most people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Symptoms and Progression
Depending on the degree of inflammation, symptoms come and go. For a newly diagnosed adult patient, there is evidence of joint disintegration and damage leading to stiffness and pain. For persons who have been living with the disease for several years, there are constant disruptions that limit their activities due to the pain that they experience. Some of them may get physically impaired and have to rely on support machines such as a wheelchair (Singh et al., 2016). A patient in the final stages will have lost mobility and experience pain and stiffness and may eventually die. In the last stages, the inflammation in the synovium destroys the bones and the cartilage of the joints.
Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
The systemic identification of rheumatoid arthritis in a child is characterized by spiking fevers, followed by a disappearing rash that is salmon colored, macular, nonpruritic and lasts only a few hours. The signs and symptoms associated with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis include swelling of joints, stiffness, and pain (Singh et al., 2016). The child might not experience pain or be able to communicate it, but he or she may start limping.
Treatment and Management
Rheumatoid arthritis has no cure, but to control the progression of the disease, doctors use medication and physiotherapy. Medication treatment consists of continuous doses of immunosuppressants.
References
Okada, Y., Wu, D., Trynka, G., Raj, T., Terao, C., Ikari, K., ... & Graham, R. R. (2014). Genetics of rheumatoid arthritis contributes to biology and drug discovery. Nature, 506(7488), 376-381.
Singh, J. A., Saag, K. G., Bridges, S. L., Akl, E. A., Bannuru, R. R., Sullivan, M. C., ... & Curtis, J. R. (2016). 2015 American College of Rheumatology guideline for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis & rheumatology, 68(1), 1-26.
