What are the Causes of Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Rheumatoid Arthritis is thought to be an autoimmune disease which means that the immune system attacks other parts of the body resulting to redness, pain, swelling or heat in the lining of a joint. An autoimmune disease refers to the body’s immune system attacking it’s own tissues. Still not fully understood in the medical community, this condition most often starts in a person’s hands, wrists and feet. Then it typically advances to shoulders, elbows and hips. Infections are an environmental trigger that could be one of the causes of rheumatoid arthritis. Although bacteria and viruses have been studied, no single organism has been proven to be the primary trigger for the autoimmune response and successive damaging inflammation. One established fact about the causes of rheumatoid arthritis is that there could be one, or a combination of factors that triggers this disease, including an abnormal autoimmune response, genetic susceptibility, and a particular environmental or biological trigger, such as a viral or bacterial infection or even hormonal changes. To conclude, the causes of rheumatoid arthritis are still unknown. Although much has been learned about the process leading to this disease, much still needs to be done. Researchers are yet to discover exactly what leads to these abnormal responses of the body’s immune system. What's great about fungal nail infection | Info on How to Stop Aging | Hot Water Cooler Tags: autoimmune disease, causes of rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis This entry was posted on Saturday, June 4th, 2011 at 12:41 am and is filed under Arthritis, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.