Autoimmune Diseases: When the Body Starts Attacking Itself

14 June 2010

BOB DOUGHTY:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. This week, we talk about a sickness called lupus and other autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases affect the immune system, the body’s natural defenses for fighting disease.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: The immune system normally protects the body against foreign materials, such as viruses and bacteria. Autoimmune diseases result from a failure of the body’s own defenses against disease. The immune system loses its ability to tell the difference between foreign materials and its own cells. So the body starts attacking its own organs and tissues.

BARBARA KLEIN: There are three kinds of lupus. Discoid lupus affects only the skin and can be identified by red marks on the face or neck. These marks on the skin can also be a sign of another form of lupus called systemic lupus. Systemic lupus can affect almost any organ or organ system in the body. When people talk about lupus, they usually mean the systemic form of the disease.

APMelody Nolan, who suffers from systemic lupus, prepares her daily medications at her home in Sacramento, California

Some medicines can cause what is called drug-induced lupus. This form of lupus usually goes away when the patient stops using the medicines.