What is a rheumatic condition?

Many rheumatic conditions are categorised as an autoimmune disease.

The immune system is designed to protect us from infections and abnormal cells such as foreign substances.

When the immune system mistakenly attacks some of its own healthy cells and tissues, it leads to an autoimmune process, sometimes resulting in disease.

Depending on your illness or disease, the parts of the body that are affected are different. For example, in juvenile idiopathic arthritis the autoimmune process leads to inflammation in the joints that can lead to joint damage. For patients with lupus, it can affect the skin, kidneys and blood vessels.

What is the cause of rheumatic conditions?

What causes autoimmune diseases to happen, in most cases, is unknown. This is also called 'idiopathic', meaning that the disease develops spontaneously or without a known cause.

Many rheumatological diseases, such as Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, develops spontaneously without a known cause.

Are rheumatic conditions contagious?

Rheumatologic diseases are not contagious.

Rheumatological diseases are not directly inherited—for example, if a parent has a rheumatological disease it does not mean the child will have that disease.

When we ask families if they have any other family members who have an autoimmune disease, they often, but not always, report there are other family members who have had some sort of autoimmune disease.

This is described as a ‘predisposition’ to a disease. It means that under certain conditions, a child ‘may’ develop a particular illness.

Can rheumatic conditions be cured?

Rheumatic conditions are chronic diseases, which persist for 3 months or more. Some chronic illnesses can resolve and be ‘cured’.

However, most chronic illnesses persist for long periods of time or even a lifetime. Many can be brought under control by medical intervention and good management, and may go into ‘remission’ where no symptoms are experienced.

Sometimes chronic diseases ‘flare up’ and the illness may for a time become acute, or severe. Causes can include environmental stress such as sun exposure, but in many cases the reasons for flare ups are unknown.