Lupus occurs when the body's immune system starts to attack its own tissues and organs.
This chronic inflammatory disease can have horrible effects for many different systems of the body.
Inflammation brought on by Lupus can affect the joints, heart, lungs, skin, blood cells and the kidneys.
This autoimmune disease causes the immune system to turn against the healthy tissues in the body, instead of focusing on foreign bacteria and viruses.
Over the years, the ability to treat and diagnose Lupus has improved considerably.
While once, people suffering from the disease were not expected to lead active lives or live for long, people today are able to lead active lifestyles.
There are four types of the condition with Systemic Lupus Erthematosus being the most common type.
This type is also the most serious.
The signs and symptoms differ greatly in each patient.
Symptoms can develop slowly over time and may be mild or extremely severe.
The most common type of symptoms are mild episodes of disease called "flares".
Flares are sporadic symptoms that occur for awhile then disappear for a short time, before arising again.
The most common symptoms occurring during flares are fever, weight loss or weight gain, mouth sores, stiffness or swelling of joints, fatigue, lack of energy, chest pain and easy bruising.
These symptoms differ depending on the type of Lupus one has, and by case to case.
While there is no particular known cause for Lupus, there are a number of risk factors.
The disease is more common among women than it is among men.
The disease can affect people of all ages, but most often those between the ages of 15 years old and 40 years of age are diagnosed with the condition.
Lupus is also more common among Asians, African Americans and Hispanics.