Autoimmune Disease

The immune system of our body is a collection of cells, tissues and molecules which work together to protect the body against any attack from foreign bodies like bacteria, viruses, fungi etc. Autoimmune disease occurs when the body's immune system fails and starts producing antibodies which react against some of the body's own tissues. This can have a lot of effects on the body and can even prove to be fatal in many cases. It is said to be the 3rd most common disease in USA. It is said to affect one in thirty one Americans.

An autoimmune process can cause the destruction of a particular type of cell or tissue, can cause an organ to grow excessively, and can even affect the organs' functionality. The endocrine glands are mostly affected by this kind of disease. The generally
Some of the non-organ specific disorders are: myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

The second type is specific to a particular organ of the body. Some of the organ specific disorders are: chronic hepatitis - a disease that affects the liver, Addison's disease affecting the adrenal glands, pernicious anemia which affects the stomach, diabetes (insulin dependent) affecting the pancreas and Hashimoto's disease that affects the thyroid glands.

Researchers believe that there are many factors that can be attributed as the cause of autoimmune diseases. Drugs, pollution, certain types of viruses, heredity are some of the attributed causes. Many doctors also believe that close marriages or marrying family members is also a major factor for the auto immune diseases.

Doctors conduct various tests like checking your blood samples, radiological studies etc to diagnose if you have the autoimmune disease. There symptoms accompanied by the auto immune disease are specific to each disease and widely vary. The general symptoms are fever, low grade infections, fatigue, dizziness and loss of