SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS

noun Date: 1951 an inflammatory connective tissue disease that is often held to be an autoimmune disease and that occurs chiefly in women, is characterized especially by fever, skin rash, and arthritis, often by acute hemolytic anemia, by small hemorrhages in the skin and mucous membranes, by inflammation of the pericardium, and in serious cases by involvement of the kidneys and central nervous system