Rare diseases may not be as rare as people think. Rare diseases can affect as many as 1 in every 2000 people. Behcet’s disease is far more rare than that however It’s estimated that somewhere in 1 of every 170,000 people may suffer from Behcet’s disease.
While the cause isn’t fully known, it’s believed to be an autoimmune disease that starts from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Behcet’s disease has a huge list of different symptoms. This is because Behcet’s disease causes the blood vessels in the body to become inflamed. Depending on which area of the body is affected, the symptoms will be different. Behcet’s disease can have some serious complications like aneurysm, stroke, or blindness. Since it’s a rare disease, one of the biggest problems is that so many people don’t know much about it. Take this opportunity to learn about the facets of Behcet’s disease.
Signs and Symptoms of Behcet’s Disease
The list of symptoms of Behcet’s disease is lengthy. The most common symptom is going to be mouth sores. These sores start like a canker sore, but they turn into an ulcer. They last for at least 7 days (to around 21) and then they regress. In addition to the mouth sores, other symptoms include:
- Skin sores - These can occur over the body and look like acne. The genitals are prone to open red sores.
- Uveitis - This is inflammation within the eye and shows itself as redness and pain. Blurred vision can also occur. If this is not treated, it can lead to blindness.
- Joint Pain - The inflammation around joints can result in pain in the knees, ankles, elbows and wrists.
- Digestive Issues - People may suffer from pain during digestion, from diarrhea and from bleeding.
- Brain Problems - People may feel disoriented or lose their balance easily. This can be accompanied by a high fever or headache. In serious cases, a stroke is possible.
- Swelling - The inflammation in the blood vessels can cause redness and swelling in the arms and/or legs. This can also feel very uncomfortable.
Risk Factors of Behcet’s Disease
While the cause of Behcet’s disease remains unknown, there are risk factors in play. People who have one or more of these risk factors are more likely to contract Behcet’s disease that others. The first world geography. People from China, Japan, Iran and especially Turkey are known to get Behcet’s disease at an advanced rate. Other countries from the Middle East and East Asia also count.
Behcet’s disease can technically affect anyone, however men get the disease in a different way. Typically symptoms for men are more severe than they are for women. People who are between the ages of 20 and 39 are the most likely to get the disease.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Currently there’s no single test which can diagnose someone with Behcet’s disease. Doctors will instead make a symptom based diagnosis. This means that patients needs to display a minimum of three signs and symptoms before they can be diagnosed. One of those will need to be the recurrent mouth sores that are so common.
Treatment is designed after reducing the severity of the symptoms. This is because there is no cure. Mouth rinses are very common to try to calm the pain of the common mouth sores. Eyedrops are used to relieve pain or redness from the eyes. For symptoms that occur on the skin, there are a variety of topical medications. These can come in gel, cream or ointment form. The medication within these treatments are varied. Their gal can be to control inflammation, suppress or alter the immune response or simply to relieve pain.