Arthritis affects almost everyone at some point in their
lives, usually later rather than earlier, but is there a new way to possibly
prevent this disease from being misdiagnosed? Rheumatoid arthritis causes
painful and swollen joints, and it affects about 1.5 million people in the US. A
recent study performed by scientists at the Arthritis Research UK Centre for
Genetics and Genomics at The University of Manchester believe that the
development of rheumatoid arthritis has a strong relation to genetic and
environmental components. There are two subtypes to rheumatoid arthritis:
sero-positive and sero-negative. Patients who have sero-negative rheumatoid
arthritis are more likely to be misdiagnosed, because this type of arthritis is
not well understood. However, these scientists have found that different
genetic variants of a protein that play an important role in the way the body
fights infections are associated with these two types of rheumatoid arthritis. This
shows that exposure to different types of viruses or bacteria can trigger the
different types of arthritis. This will hopefully lead to a new way to diagnose
this disease, as well as a new treatment that is more accurate for patients
with rheumatoid arthritis.
I found this article interesting, especially because I know
so many people experiencing different forms of arthritis in their old age. I
hope that this leads to quicker and more effective diagnosis and treatment and
mentioned, so hopefully not as many people in the younger generations will have
to go through the pain that this disease causes.
Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140326092333.htm
Related Article: https://www.arthritis.org/conditions-treatments/disease-center/rheumatoid-arthritis/
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