What Is Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that attacks the joints. Alth...
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that attacks the joints. Although it shares some symptoms with osteoarthritis, the type of arthritis that usually occurs in older people due to wear and tear on joints, there are some key differences. Rheumatoid arthritis can attack at any age, can come on rapidly, and may be accompanied by other symptoms, such as fatigue.
![ra-famous-history](https://cdn-img.health.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium_2x/public/migration/images/slides/ra-famous-history-400x400.jpg?itok=1KWW5L9j "Archaeological investigations have turned up evidence of injuries, degenerative disease, infections, and tumors in ancient skeletons, but no signs (yet) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
"It isn’t clear how old rheumatoid arthritis is," says Nortin Hadler, MD, a professor of rheumatology and microbiology/immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "The more you look for it in history, the less you find it."
Here is a list of famous people who’ve battled the disease in recent history. (The first confirmed cases of RA were probably in the late 1800s.)")
