Juvenile arthritis: what is it?

Juvenile arthritis is also found in boys than girls and touch one in 1 children old under 16, which makes it most common chronic childhood disease (more than cystic fibrosis, diabetes, etc.). It is not a communicable disease, and it is not known what causes it. What is believed is that the immune system is deficient and attacks healthy tissue. Juvenile arthritis can occur after infection, but infection is not a cause.

This disease manifests itself byinflammation and pain, to one or more joints, which last more than six weeks (below, the symptoms may have another cause). There are different forms:

• rheumatic oligo-arthritis;
• systemic arthritis;
• polyarticular arthritis;
• psoriatic arthritis;
• spondylarthropathy;
• rheumatoid arthritis (an adult disease that begins in childhood).

Because of the various symptoms and various forms, and also because young children do not accurately describe the illness from which they are suffering, a clear diagnosis may require x-rays and blood tests.

Juvenile arthritis, besides being usually painful, can cause permanent lesions. Some forms also affect d‘other fabrics (eyes, skin, intestines) and severe forms can affect the growth. In most cases, after an evolution of ten years (on average), marked by periods of relapses and remissions, it fades and disappears.