Though one of the lesser known illnesses, Lupus affects an enormous number of people worldwide (there are 1 million sufferers in the USA alone), and is far more prevalent than many better known illnesses (such as MS and leukaemia). Lupus is a disease of the immune system, resulting from the over-production of antibodies. Typical first symptoms include skin rashes, hair loss, joint swellings, fever; however, it can then go on to start affecting major organs, particularly the kidneys, with a resulting risk to life. It is a disease that predominantly affects young women (between fifteen and forty). In spite of its high incidence, little has been written for the sufferer. Fortunately, the options for the Lupus sufferer have improved markedly in recent years, with the advent of self-help groups, and improved drug treatments. The long-term prognosis is therefore far more favourable now than it has been in the past. As head of the Lupus Research Unit at St Thomas' Hospital, and life president of Lupus UK, Graham Hughes has an unsurpassed knowledge of Lupus. From a world-wide authority on the subject, Lupus: The FACTS provides the sufferer with the information they need, on a range of issues, such as diagnosis, treatment, pregnancy, and diet. Drawn from his years of experience treating patients, Dr Hughes provides the sufferer, and their family and friends, with concise, readable, information on the illness, with a book that emphasises the immense positive contribution that they can make to improve their situation.