Symptoms and Causes of Behcet Syndrome

Behcet's syndrome is a multisystem autoimmune disease that occurs due to the inflammation of blood vessels throughout the body. It is characterized by recurring, painful mouth sores, skin blisters, genital sores and swollen joints. The probability of occurring this disease in men is twice as that of women. The disease was first diagnosed in American Pain Clinics, but it is most common in the Eastern Mediterranean countries and in eastern Asia where it is a leading cause of blindness.

Symptoms of Behcet Syndrome

The disease does not ‘burn itself out’, but sometimes it can level off and the flare-ups become less aggressive and happen less frequently. Most people with Behçet’s disease have a normal lifespan and can hope to lead close-to-normal daily lives. The disease can be wiped out using prescribed pain medication if it is just in the starting age and not so severe.

Swelling and pain in a blood vessel anywhere in the body. This can lead to aneurysms (weak places in the vessel that thin and bulge out) or blood clots. The tiny blood vessels of the kidneys may be affected without symptoms being apparent (asymptomatic focal glomerulonephritis).

The recurring symptoms of Behçet's syndrome can be very disruptive. The symptoms or the symptom-free periods (remissions) may last weeks, years, or decades. Occasionally, damage to the nervous system, digestive tract, or blood vessels is fatal. So it is strongly recommended to consult a pain management center when these symptoms ever appear in any stage of your life.

Causes of Behcet Syndrome

Causes of this disease are both inherited (genetic) and environmental factors, such as microbe infections, are suspected to be factors that contribute to the development of Behcet's syndrome. Behcet's syndrome is not felt to be contagious.
No one knows why the immune system starts to behave this way in Behçet disease. It is not because of any known infections, it is not definitively hereditary but first degree relatives are affected in more than expected proportion of patients.

Patients who have a parent with Behçet syndrome have disease onset at a younger age (genetic anticipation). In addition, pediatric patients are more likely to have a family history of Behçet syndrome, compared to patients with disease onset as an adult.