Immune Disorders
Latest articles on Immune Disorders
Because their symptoms are common to a wide range of conditions, autoimmune disorders can be difficult to diagnose and treat. New combination therapies, however, can many times offer relief.
To decide on an appropriate treatment, physicians consider the type of psoriasis, the seriousness of the disease, the size of the patches, and how the patient reacts to medication. Dr. Priya Young discusses this sometimes embarrassing condition.
"Overall, we heard a lot of good news about new medication and expanded access," Dr. Iram Nadeem says of the International AIDS Conference. "Our challenge is to make the US standard of care available across the world."
One common and potentially serious complication for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus is kidney involvement. Mary Cronin, MD, explains how years of research have resulted in new treatments that offer hope to lupus patients.
"A few years ago, MS wasn't treated until symptoms became severe," says Cheryl Blaschuk, RN, MSN, FNP. "Today we start treatments early, and we're seeing better outcomes. We continue looking at ways to protect the nervous system and slow the progression of the disease."
Patients with scleroderma need care from multiple experts. M. E. Csuka, MD, discusses her work with this uncommon, sometimes fatal rheumatologic disorder.
"Sjogren's syndrome is a systemic disease that has many manifestations," says E. Lee Stock, MD. While some of the symptoms are most obvious in the eyes, the autoimmune disorder has been linked to a host of serious medical problems.
Cleanliness and lack of exposure to various microorganisms may be affecting our immune systems to the degree that we are losing out bodily ability to fight off certain diseases. Dr. Subra Kugathasan discusses the "hygiene hypothesis."
"Graft-vs-host disease is like a whole-body immune response against the marrow recipient," says Robert L. Truitt, PhD. If left unchecked, this complication is debilitating at best and lethal at its worst. The good news is that we can control it now."
Dr. Richard Roman, an expert in the field of kidney disease, is the Director of MCW's Kidney Disease Center. "I didn't think that it was possible to reverse kidney disease," he says, "but with newly emerging technologies I strongly believe that there is new hope."
Ulcerative colitis causes inflammation and sores in the lining of the large intestine. About half of patients have mild symptoms; others suffer frequent fever, bloody diarrhea, nausea and severe abdominal cramps.
Older adults are one-sixth as likely to use condoms and one-fifth as likely to get tested for HIV compared to twenty-year-olds, according to Dr. April Winningham. "In addition to all that older adults have facing them, we have to add HIV to the list," she says.
For people with mold sensitivities or allergies, the all-pervading presence of molds in our environment can lead to seasonal or situational symptoms that make them feel miserable.
Medical College of Wisconsin researchers have found that IBD afflicts comparable percentages of children in cities and rural areas; incidence is constant regardless of income level, race or ethnicity.
"When I first started working in the area of HIV in the early 90s, the disease was really a death sentence," says Dr. Cheryl Gore-Felton. Today, more effective treatments are leading to extended life spans for people with HIV and AIDS.
Lupus can affect many parts of the body, including the joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels, and brain. Although people with the disease may have many different symptoms, some of the most common ones include extreme fatigue, painful or swollen joints, unexplained fever, skin rashes, and kidney problems.
Although skin hardening is the most obvious sign of scleroderma, it is by no means the most dangerous: The disease can cause life-threatening problems in the lungs, heart, esophagus, gastrointestinal tract, and kidneys.
The Center for AIDS Intervention Research gives service agencies the tools they need to help prevent HIV infection.
With regular media reports about exotic diseases like West Nile Virus and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, how concerned should Americans be about contracting serious infectious diseases?
In autoimmune disorders such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, the immune system is unable to distinguish between foreign invaders and natural components of the human body. The causes are unknown, but scientists believe that both genetic and environmental factors are involved.
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