What Causes Vasculitis?
Vasculitis occurs when your immune system attacks your
own blood vessels by mistake. What causes this to happen
isn't fully known.
A recent or chronic (ongoing) infection may prompt the
attack. Your body also may attack its own blood vessels
in reaction to a medicine.
Sometimes an autoimmune disorder triggers vasculitis. Autoimmune
disorders occur when the immune system makes antibodies (proteins)
that attack and damage the body's own tissues or cells. Examples of
such autoimmune disorders include lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and
scleroderma. You can have these disorders for years before developing
vasculitis.
Vasculitis also may be linked to certain blood cancers, such as
leukemia and lymphoma.
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