Like rheumatoid arthritis in adults, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is essentially an autoimmune disease. This is a syndrome whereby the body produces antibodies that attack its own joint tissues. Currently, medical researchers have not determined that exact cause of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. However, there are several theories as to how juvenile rheumatoid arthritis can happen.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that attacks the joints in the body, causing inflammation and pain. It can affect anyone at any age. Children are no exception to rheumatoid arthritis. In children, this chronic disease is called as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and it also causes inflamed and stiff joints.
While JRA can seem troubling, children with only a few joints involved usually go into remission with few normal function and little deformity. However, those with more joints involved may be more affected and need more aggressive treatment to prevent long-term effects.
A virus or bacterium may cause the development of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in children with certain genetic profiles. These genetic profiles are detected in some children with JRA and are considered genetic markers. However, not all children with the markers develop JRA, and children without the markers can develop the condition.
When pain, stiffness and swelling occurs in five or fewer joints of the body, the condition is called Oligoarticular JRA. This type of the disease is usually noticed because the iris of the eye becomes inflamed. Polyarticular Arthritis is the second type, more often affecting girls and causing swelling and pain in the small joints of the hand as well as the neck, hips, knees, ankles and feet. The third type of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis is systemic JRA and affects all of the body's joints with stiffness, pain and swelling, along with sudden high fevers and intermittent rashes.
Most children with the first type of JRA present signs and symptoms such as having alternating high fever and episodes with normal temperature, the appearance of rashes, swelling of lymph nodes, and enlargement of some organs of the body such as the liver and spleen. The joints are also involved and the symptoms may last for about 6 to 12 months. The second type of JRA is divided into two, one affecting girls and the other affecting boys. Most girls experience inflammation of the uveal tract of the eye which is usually painful and may lead to visual impairment or even blindness.
Pauciarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis affects a few joints, as little as four, or less. Half the children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis have this type of arthritis, and usually the joints of the knees, ankles, and elbows are affected. Joints of the wrists, spine and finger or toe joints are rarely, if at all, affected. It normally affects joints on one side of the body and not both sides.
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