STILL'S DISEASE

Also known as systemic-onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and systemic-onset juvenile chronic arthritis. Still's disease presents with systemic (bodywide) illness including high intermittent fever, a salmon-colored skin rash, swollen lymph glands, enlargement of the liver and spleen, and inflammation of the lungs (pleuritis) and around the heart (pericarditis). The arthritis may not be immediately apparent but it does appear in time and may persist after the systemic symptoms are gone. Still's disease, adult-onset: (See Still's disease.) Although Still's disease was first described in children, it is known to occur in adults.