Special consultation for Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF)

o make an appointment, please call: 06221-56 22999

Appointments: new patients Wednesday and Thursday morning and afternoon; possibly Friday

The Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine has been running a consultation for FMF for over 10 years in close cooperation with Prof. E. Ben-Chetrit from Hadassah University in Jerusalem, a proven expert on the disease. There is interdisciplinary cooperation with the Rheumatology Section of the Medical Clinic and the Rheumatology Section of the Pediatric Clinic.
Familial Mediterranean fever is a monogenic autoinflammatory disease that is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. The disease is particularly common in people from the Middle East (e.g. Turkey, Israel, Armenia, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon). Over 50% of patients fall ill before the age of 10 and around 90% before the age of 20. The disease is characterized by the periodic occurrence of fever with abdominal, thoracic or joint pain. The symptoms are caused by recurrent inflammation of the peritoneum and/or pleura or synovia (joints). The symptoms typically subside within 3 days without treatment. The main complication of the disease is renal insufficiency, which is caused by the deposition of inflammatory proteins (amyloid). Early treatment with colchicine can prevent inflammatory relapses and avoid complications of the disease. The diagnosis of FMF is clinical, i.e. it is made on the basis of the patient's background and the recurrence of inflammatory episodes. FMF gene analysis should be performed when characteristic symptoms are present.