BEHCET'S ONTARIO
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Understanding Behcet's
"A Brief Summary"
What is Behcet's
Behcet's (pronounced - buh.SETZ) disease was first described in 1937 by a Dr. Helusi Behcet, a professor of dermatolgy.  Behcet's disease is found most commonly in the Middle East, Asia and Japan but it is relatively uncommon in Canada and the U.S.

Behcet's disease is now recognized as a rare, chronic, lifelong disorder that involves inflammation of the blood vessels throughout the body. Therefore it is a multi-system autoimmune disease characterized by vasculitis. It is thought to be this because of the way it inflames small blood vessels. It has the ability to mimic various other diseases such as MS, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Crohn's disease to name a few. Due to the way it manifest itself with so many confusing symptoms at various times, (flares and remissions) it is often mis-diagnosed.

This complex multisystem disease includes involvement of the mucocutaneous, ocular, cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, pulmonary, urologic and central nervous systems as well as joints and blood vessels. Most of the symptoms are painful but not necessarily life threatening. They come and go in a series of attacks throughout life. The disease does not "burn itself out" but can sometimes level off. The flare ups may become less aggressive and may happen less frequently.  Behcet's affects each person differently. Some people may have only mild symptoms while others have more severe debilitating ones. These may include blindness, stroke, meningitis, swelling of the spinal cord and intestinal complications.


Although Behcet's is incurable at the present, it does not mean that it's untreatable. Treatment is aimed towards individual symptoms as they occur. Medications are given to reduce inflammation, suppress the immune system and help to control pain.

The clinical course of Behcet's is variable even in the early stages, making it difficult to determine the patient's long-term prognosis. The disease usually runs a protracted course with attacks generally lasting for days or weeks but sometimes longer, and recurring more frequently early in the course of the disease. Spontaneous remission of symptoms is common for patients with Behcet's Disease and this can add to the difficulty in making the diagnosis.
What causes Behcet's
The etiology and pathogenesis (cause) of Behcet's Disease remain obscure. Currently it is considered an autoimmune disease. It is believed Behcet's happens because of disterbances in the body's immune system. This system, which normally protects the body against infections by producing controlled inflammation, becomes over-active and produces unpredictable out breaks of unwanted and exaggerated inflammation. This extra inflammation affects blood vessels, usually the small ones. As a result symptoms occur wherever there is a patch of inflammation. Doctors think that an autoimmune reaction may cause blood vessels to become inflamed, but they do not know what triggers it. Under normal conditions our immune system protects us from diseases and infections but in an autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakenly attacks and harms the body's own tissues.

No one knows why the immune system starts to behave this way in Behcet's Disease. What they do know is that Behcet's is not infectious, contagious, cancerous or sexually transmitted.

Researchers think that two factors are probably important in it's development. First, that sufferers may have a genic predisposition to it; that is, it may be due to one or more specific genes. Second, something in the environment, possibly a bacterium or virus, might trigger or activate the disease in susceptible people. At this time, these are just theories as there has been no actual gene or virus identified as the cause of Behcet's.
Scientists are coming closer and closer to understanding this rare and devastating disease to bring about a greater understanding and a proper diagnosis. In the meantime, thousands of us suffer silently with a disease that has no known cause, no cure and only hope.
Understanding Behcet's

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