Lupus, more properly called systemic lupus erythematosis, is an autoimmune disease. It is much more common in women than in men, and affects African Americans more frequently than whites. Its exact causes are unknown, but the disease is similar in many ways to rheumatoid arthritis.
Normally the immune system creates antibodies, which fight off illness, in response to exposure to antigens, which are foreign or non-self proteins that occur in bacteria and viruses. In lupus, the body's immune system loses the ability to distinguish between antigens and normal body proteins, and begins to create antibodies which attack various body tissues. Some cases of lupus are limited to a single tissue, such as the skin, while other cases damage multiple tissues, involving the heart, joints, lungs, brain, blood, kidneys, or other organs.
One form of lupus is reversible. It is called drug-induced lupus and is a reaction to one of a long list of prescription medications. Generally drug-induced lupus is limited to the skin, and it subsides when the person stops taking the medication. The third link below has a list of the drugs most likely to cause this problem, but more than 400 have been reported in all.
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