Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE) is a long-term
autoimmune disease, in which the immune system attacks normal body tissues as
though they were foreign substances, causing inflammation and tissue damage
throughout the body. Symptoms include fatigue, fever, skin rashes, and muscle
and joint pain.
Inflammation caused by lupus can affect the skin, the joints, and
most other organ systems in the body, including the kidneys, heart, lungs, and
nervous system. It causes a variety of symptoms depending on which organ
systems are affected and how severely they are affected.
Some people may have severe episodes; others have a milder form of
the disease. Symptoms of lupus may come and go in episodes called flares. There
is no cure for lupus. Home treatment and, if needed, medications to control
inflammation are the primary treatments.
The most common and serious type of lupus is systemic lupus
erythematosus (SLE); the four other types are discoid/cutaneous, subacute
cutaneous, drug-induced systemic, and neonatal lupus. Lupus is more common in
women than in men.
