Autoimmune Diseases

What Are Autoimmune Diseases?

The word "auto" is the Greek word for self. The immune system is a complicated network of cells and cell components (called molecules) that normally work to defend the body and eliminate infections caused by bacteria, viruses, and other invading microbes. If a person has an autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakenly attacks self, targeting the cells, tissues, and organs of a person's own body. A collection of immune system cells and molecules at a target site is broadly referred to as inflammation.

 The autoimmune reaction is directed against the brain in multiple sclerosis and the gut in Crohn's disease. In other autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus), affected tissues and organs may vary among individuals with the same disease. One person with lupus may have affected skin and joints whereas another may have affected skin, kidney, and lungs. Destruction of insulin-producing cells of the pancreas causes Type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Who Is Affected by Autoimmune Diseases?

 Autoimmune diseases afflict millions of Americans, strike women more often than men; in particular, they affect women of working age and during their childbearing years.

  Lupus is more common in African-American and Hispanic women. Rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma affect  Native American communities .

alternative treatments of  diseases, "Flame within contents".

What Are the Causes of Autoimmune Diseases?

Autoimmune disease can be caused by vitamin D deficiency. People who have multiple medical procedures, are in accidents , injuries ave increased risk of autoimmune diseases. Those who are Gluten intolerant are at increased risk of autoimmune diseases.

Are they contagious?

Autoimmune diseases do not spread to other people like infections.

Are they inherited?

Inter marriage  affects people who get Pemphigus.. Certain diseases such as psoriasis can occur among several members of the same family. For example, one first cousin may have lupus, another may have dermatomyositis, and one of their mothers may have rheumatoid arthritis.

Examples of Autoimmune Diseases: (Listed by the Main Target Organ)
Nervous System:		Gastrointestinal System:
	Multiple sclerosis		Crohn's Disease
	Myasthenia gravis		Ulcerative colitis
	Autoimmune neuropathies		Primary biliary cirrhosis
	such as Guillain-Barre		Autoimmune hepatitis
	Autoimmune uveitis
			Endocrine Glands:
	Blood:		Type 1 or immune-mediated
	Autoimmune hemolytic anemia		diabetes mellitus
	Pernicious anemia		Grave's Disease
	Autoimmune thrombocytopenia		Hashimoto's thyroiditis
			Autoimmune oophoritis and
	Blood Vessels:		orchitis
	Temporal arteritis		Autoimmune disease of the
	Anti-phospholipid syndrome		adrenal gland
	Vasculitides such as
	Wegener's granulomatosis		Multiple Organs Including the
	Behcet's disease		Musculoskeletal System:*
			Rheumatoid arthritis
	Skin:		Systemic lupus erythematosus
	Psoriasis		Scleroderma
	Dermatitis herpetiformis		Polymyositis, dermatomyositis
	Pemphigus vulgaris		Spondyloarthropathies such as
	Vitiligo		ankylosing spondylitis
			Sjogren's syndrome
*These diseases are also called connective tissue (muscle, skeleton, tendons, fascia, etc.) diseases.

 

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