autoimmune disease definition

OK, so alopecia areata is an autoimmune......... It is really kind of hard to hear medical terminology, it almost always negative. And most definetly not what we need to hear. As with any profession the technical lingo is very impersonal. So here is Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions definition on autoimmune disease. Here is the core of the definition: Autoimmune diseases are defined as diseases in which the progression from benign autoimmunity to pathogenic autoimmunity occurs. OK, so what have I got, what's wrong with me? The truth is, there is no cure. But as with anything it is how you go about it and so what is most interesting is the research.

This conclusion from Johns Hopkins is very encouraging:
Common threads uniting the autoimmune diseases are the presence of an autoimmune response based on cumulative genetic risk factors, combined with an environmental contribution (infectious, chemical, physical, or other). Equally important, innovative treatments applied to one autoimmune disease may be useful in others. To seize the new opportunities for moving research and treatment forward, leading investigators are calling for a collective approach to the autoimmune diseases. The answer has been the creation of the Johns Hopkins Autoimmune Disease Research Center.

Take a look at what the center is all about.