Live Life Team
Inflammation of blood vessels is known as Behcet’s disease or Behcet’s syndrome. Ulcers in the mouth and genital organs may indicate presence of this disease. Inflammation can occur in the eyes, skin, digestive system, joints and heart too. Immune system is thought to play an important role for occurrence of this disease. This occurs rarely in UK. The symptoms appear more strongly in men. The causes of this disease are not known clearly. It can be fatal also, if symptoms are severe.
What are the causes of Behcet’s disease
Cause of this disease is not known. However, involvement of genetic and environmental factors has evidences. Certain type of bacteria or virus affects certain people having genes vulnerable to their attacks. The inherited quality of their genes invokes malfunctions when these bacteria affect them. It is believed that the malfunction takes place in the immune system, which causes damage to the healthy tissue. This is supported by the fact that most of the people affected with this disease have the gene HLA B51 in them. Certain regions are on earth are prone to this disease. The examples are eastern Asia, eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Environmental factors such as herpes virus, hepatitis virus, bacteria and industrial effluents can cause this disease.
What are the symptoms of Behcet’s disease
The symptoms usually appear between twenty to thirty years of age. This disease can cause a large number of symptoms. It can cause mouth ulcers with pain. These ulcers heal, but reoccur. Genital ulcers caused by this disease occur in most of the cases. This ulcer occurs in scrotum, cervix or vagina. It may appear on penis too. This ulcer causes pain and leaves scar after healing. Men may have swollen testicles as symptom and for women sex becomes painful. These ulcers are not contagious.
Behcet’s disease can have eye inflammation as a symptom, causing pains in the eyes and photophobia. Thus could result in blur vision. The eyes look reddish. This inflammation can result in loss of eyesight.
Skin diseases such as lesions and acne can be the symptoms of Behcet’s disease. The skin may become over-sensitive, as another symptom. This disease causes inflammation in joints. The pain and stiffness resemble that of arthritis.
Besides the above, there are also symptoms such as inflammation of the veins, stomach and intestine. Inflammation of the nervous system also is not ruled out.
How Behcet’s disease is diagnosed
Even though there are no specific tests for diagnosing this disease, the doctor orders blood test, urine test and x-rays to rule out diseases having similar symptoms such as arthritis. Doctors usually check for the specific symptoms of this disease. A history of mouth cancer reoccurring for three times in a year suggests Behcet’s disease. The doctor immediately looks for genital ulcers, skin lesions, eye inflammation or over-sensitivity of skin.
How Behcet’s disease is treated
Physicians generally use immunosuppressants for treating this disease. They disable the immune system, which is responsible for many of the symptoms of this disease. This is available in tablet form and as lotion too. Topical immunosuppressants treat ulcers of mouth and genital parts and mild inflammation in the eyes. Oral immunosuppressants such as Cyclosporin disable the immune system totally. This can cause severe side effects. Intravenous immunosuppressants are used if the symptoms are severe.
