Polyarthritis

Polyarthritis is a kind of arthritis which impacts five or more joints at the same time. It is normally concerned with autoimmune conditions and experienced at any age irrespective of the individual sex.

Causes of Polyarthritis

Polyarthritis is caused mainly due to an autoimmune disorder like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and amyloidosis and even due to infection from an alphavirus such as Ross River virus and chikungunya virus. Hence this condition is called alphavirus polyarthritis syndrome.

Associated Conditions of Polyarthritis 

The disease would spread to bilateral edema in lower limbs, joint swelling, and cause pain. The incubation period of alphavirus polyarthritis syndrome would range from 4 to 20 days based on the specific virus with either sudden or gradual fever and headache.

Polyarthritis is not exactly a disease but a term used for arthritis which affects five or more joints. Many diseases are heard to be responsible for polyarthritis that could exist as a chronic or acute problem. Infections like viruses are responsible for mumps or rubella.

Polyarthritis which is caused by an acute viral infection sustains for a period of six weeks.  Polyarthritis is also triggered by chronic diseases like psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. To treat this disease, certain drugs that minimize inflammation are used.

Treatment of  Polyarthritis

Appropriate clinical assessment is necessary which should be given and further narrowed by appropriate investigations. Autoantibody tests are done to aid diagnosis of rheumatological conditions which could turn misleading if not considered according to the context of clinical presentations. These are best to confirm a clinical suspicion than suggesters of diagnosis.

Stay tuned with BYJU’S to learn more about Polyarthritis