Lupus affects one in 1,000 Indians

May 10 is observed as World Lupus Day. The day is observed every year to raise awareness about Lupus which is an autoimmune disease that can cause damage to any part of the body.

What is Lupus?

• Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can cause damage to any part of the body.
• An autoimmune disease is one in which the immune system is unable to recognize the difference between healthy cells in the human body and the foreign cells it fights to remove. 
• This results in multiple organs like skin, joints, blood, kidney, liver, lung, and heart getting affected.
  
  

What are the symptoms?

• It may range from general symptoms like lymphadenopathy, fever and repeated infections to developing specific symptoms such as arthritis, butterfly rash and ulcers. 
• The disease onset may be in the age group of 12-45 years affecting women or young girls more than men.
• A person with Lupus typically has at least four of these 11 symptoms: serositis, oral ulcers, arthritis, photosensitivity, blood disorder, renal (kidney) disorder, anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA), immunological dysfunction, neurological, malar rash, and discoid rash.