Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE) is a long-term
autoimmune disease, in which the immune system attacks normal
body tissues as though they were foreign substances, causing
inflammation and tissue damage throughout the body. Symptoms
include fatigue, fever, skin rashes, and muscle and joint pain.
Inflammation caused by lupus can affect the skin, the joints,
and most other organ systems in the body, including the kidneys,
heart, lungs, and nervous system. It causes a variety of
symptoms depending on which organ systems are affected and how
severely they are affected. Some people may have severe
episodes; others have a milder form of the disease. Symptoms of
lupus may come and go in episodes called flares. There is no
cure for lupus. Home treatment and, if needed, medications to
control inflammation are the primary treatments. The most common
and serious type of lupus is systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE);
the four other types are discoid/cutaneous, subacute cutaneous,
drug-induced systemic, and neona