Definitions for "Autoimmune Diseases"
A disease caused when the body mistakenly identifies something that is natural to it as foreign. For example, Rheumatoid Arthritis is a disease caused by an antibody reaction to the body's own joints.
(aw-toh-im-YOON) or rheumatoid diseases: Chronic, systemic diseases caused by the immune system's attack upon some parts of a patient's body. Several of these diseases -- rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, and multiple sclerosis -- are associated with serious eye symptoms.
a large and heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by altered immunity; usually, antibodies form in the blood directed against some part of healthy tissue