Inflammatory Disease and Blindness

[Guest guest]

I always wondered if my visual disturbances were related to inflammation....

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http://www.ivanhoe.com/docs/newsflash/inflammatorydiseaseslinkedtoblindness.

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> Inflammatory Diseases Linked to Blindness

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> Feb. 12, 2001 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A sizable portion of patients with a

> potentially-blinding eye disease have a history of inflammatory rheumatic

> disease, such as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis or reactive arthritis,

> according to a study by Finnish researchers.

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> The researchers focused on 174 patients. Their main cause of visual

> impairment was uveitis, a condition characterized by specific types of eye

> infections and inflammations. Researchers found 22 percent of uveitis

> patients had suffered from inflammatory rheumatic disease. Doctors do not

> traditionally know the cause of most cases of uveitis.

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> " This study provides the first data on the relative importance of

> inflammatory rheumatic diseases...leading to visual handicap and

> blindness, " conclude the researchers.

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> Visual complications of uveitis include cataract and glaucoma, say the

> researchers. Some cases of uveitis are genetically linked, with the

genetic

> variant occurring more often among the Finnish than other Europeans.

> Uveitis causes an estimated 5 percent of cases of blindness in Western

> countries. According to the researchers, infectious agents, such as herpes

> viruses, can also cause uveitis. The study appears in the latest issue of

> The Journal of Rheumatology.

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