Patient Education
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- In the past, HCV spread mainly through tainted blood transfusions. Since 1990, all donated blood has had strict screening. The risk of HCV from a blood transfusion is rare. Most people today acquire HCV through using injectable drugs or through high-risk sex behaviors.
- Anyone with newly diagnosed arthritis or cryoglobulinemia (a condition marked by abnormal proteins in the blood) should have testing for HCV infection.
- Almost any muscle and joint problem can result from HCV infection, even in those who do not have hepatitis.
- HCV-related rheumatic disease may occur before HCV infection is found. Most patients with HCV are unaware they have it.
- New treatments for HCV have offered the possibility of cure in most all patients so it’s more than ever to be diagnosed and evaluated for such therapies. Even if you have been treated in the past, you should seek care of a hepatologist who can determine if you are a candidate for these new therapies.
The hepatitis C virus—often referred to as HCV—is the leading cause of liver failure and the top reason for needing a liver transplant. Besides hepatitis (liver inflammation), this virus can also cause arthritis (joint inflammation), muscle pain and weakness, and vascular (blood vessel) problems. The HCV infection often has no symptoms (what you feel).
It is common for HCV-positive patients to have related rheumatic diseases. In fact, these problems can appear before you even know you have HCV.
Rheumatic diseases are problems, including pain, in the joints, muscles and connective tissue (the tissue that supports and binds many other parts of the body). HCV-related rheumatic diseases result from infection with HCV. Painful joints and muscles combined with fatigue are usually the first and most common complaints. Less often, joint swelling and inflammation of blood vessels (vasculitis) can occur.
Source: American College of Rheumatology
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- Rheumatic diseases related to HIV can affect any age group, though they are most common between 20 and 40 years of age.
- HIV-related rheumatic disease may precede the detection of HIV infection.
- Signs and symptoms of rheumatic diseases, their treatment and HIV infection can all overlap.
- Most HIV-related rheumatic diseases get better with HIV treatment.
- Some older medicines for HIV and AIDS can cause joint and soft tissue pain and muscle weakness. Others have been linked to metabolic bone disease. Not all muscle, bone and joint complaints in people with HIV stem from HIV. They can occur for other reasons.
HIV infection and its most serious complication, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome — more often referred to as AIDS — were first recognized over 30 years ago. Since then, there has been great progress in understanding, treating and preventing AIDS and infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Despite these advances, more than 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection, and almost 1 in 5 is unaware of their underlying infection.
Many people with HIV have problems of the musculoskeletal system (joints, muscles and bones). HIV infection can lead to rheumatic (joint and muscle) illness, including joint pain, arthritis, muscle pain, weakness and fatigue (feeling very tired). Extra-articular manifestations such as uveitis (eye inflammation) may also occur in HIV patients exhibiting arthritis. Sometimes these symptoms (what someone feels) happen before the person knows he or she has HIV.
Source: American College of Rheumatology
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- Mevalonate Kinase Deficiency is a genetic disease caused by an abnormality in a gene that codes a protein called mevalonate kinase (MVK).
- Major symptoms include recurrent fever from infancy with rash, abdominal pain, diarrhea, joint pain, mouth sores and swelling of lymph glands. Episodes are often triggered by vaccines.
- New biologic treatments may ease the disease for the majority of patients. The long-term outcome is usually good.
- There is no proven treatment, but Mevalonate Kinase Deficiency/ Hyperimmunoglobulin D Syndrome tends to ease over time and often resolves by adulthood.
Mevalonate Kinase Deficiency (MKD) was formerly known as Hyperimmunoglobulin D Syndrome and is a very rare disease. The disease is mostly found in Western Europe, especially in the Netherlands and France, but has been described in all ethnic groups. Boys and girls are affected equally. Symptoms usually start in early childhood, most commonly in the first year of life.
Source: American College of Rheumatology
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- Children are considered hypermobile if their joints move beyond the normal range of motion.
- Children with hypermobility have been called “loose-jointed” or “double-jointed.”
- Hypermobility may be associated with muscle and joint pain that is especially worse with activity and at night.
- Joint protection techniques, improving muscle tone and muscle strength help reduce pain and repeated injuries to children with hypermobility.
Joints that are more flexible than normal or that move in excess of a normal range of motion are considered hypermobile. When generalized, hypermobility occurs with symptoms such as muscle or joint pain without systemic disease, it is called - hypermobility syndrome or joint hypermobility syndrome. Rarely, children may have a more widespread connective tissue disorder associated with their hypermobility such as Marfan or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
The presence of hypermobility varies widely across different ages, ethnicities and populations. Typically girls tend to be more hypermobile compared to boys.
Source: American College of Rheumatology
