What is Still’s disease?
Still’s disease is also known as systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis. This is a rheumatic disease that affects not only the joints but also the organs. The word juvenile means that it is a childhood disease, with less than one child per 100,000 children in Europe suffering from Still’s disease per year.
It is therefore a rare disease. Other variants of childhood rheumatism are more common and occur in about 10 in 100,000 children. Still’s disease – also known as breastfeeding syndrome – also occurs in adults and is then referred to as adult still’s disease.
It also affects less than one in 100,000 people per year. With appropriate therapy, Still’s disease has a relatively good prognosis, but there are also severe courses. We recommend that you first deal with the main topics to obtain general information:
- Rheumatism
- Juvenile Polyarthritis
I recognize Still’s disease by these symptoms
With all illnesses from the so-called rheumatic form circle – to which also the Morbus Still belongs – typically an inflammatory reaction of different joints occurs. The larger joints such as the ankle joint, knee joint, hip joint, elbow joint, shoulder joint or wrist are particularly frequently affected. There is pain, swelling, redness and overheating in the affected joint(s).
In children, this can be shown, for example, by refusing to walk. In Still’s disease, however, these typical joint complaints often occur months after the onset of the disease. This makes it difficult to find a diagnosis.
The disease usually begins with attacks of high fever of around 40°C, which occurs mainly in the morning and evening. The fever cannot be sufficiently reduced by conventional antipyretic medication. Those affected often feel dull and exhausted, children can be noticed by reduced eating and drinking, increased need for sleep and increased crying.
At the beginning the Morbus Still impresses therefore often like an acute infection. It is accompanied by a salmon-colored, fine spotted rash in the area of the stomach, chest and back as well as upper arms and thighs. The rash often itches.
At the beginning of the disease it can lead to pain in the area of the cervical spine, which can occur for example when turning the head. Still’s disease also typically involves inflammatory organ involvement. This can manifest itself in very different ways depending on which organs are affected.
Symptoms include pain when breathing through the lungs due to inflammatory involvement of the lung membrane, heart complaints due to inflammation of the pericardium and abdominal pain due to inflammation of the peritoneum. In addition, there is typically a swelling of numerous lymph nodes distributed over the body (generalized lymph node swelling) and an enlargement of the spleen and liver (hepatosplenomegaly), which may become noticeable during an ultrasound examination of the abdomen (abdominal sonography). Lymph node swelling can also indicate other dangerous diseases and should be examined immediately by a doctor if it persists.
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