FAMILIAL MEDITERRANEAN FEVER IN ARAB CHILDREN - THE HIGH PREVALENCE AND GENE-FREQUENCY

Over a period of 3 years, 192 children with familial Mediterranean fev er were prospectively studied. Of these, 106 (55%) were girls and 86 ( 45%) were boys. The prevalence was 1:2600 children with a gene frequen cy of 1:50. The age at onset ranged between 4 months and 16 years. Of these patients 24% started their illness below the age of 2 years and 88% were symptomatic before the age of 10 years; 82% had recurrent abd ominal pain, 43% had pleurisy, 37% had arthritis, 15% had cutaneous ma nifestations, 12% had splenomegaly and 4% had hepatomegaly. The presen ting symptoms were abdominal pain in 51%, unilateral chest pain in 23% and arthritis in 26%. The family history was positive in 62%. Of 12 a ffected families 19 members had/have renal failure and amyloidosis was confirmed in 7 patients. Conclusion Our data show a high prevalence o f familial Mediterranean fever and a high gene frequency in Arab child ren similar to that reported in Jews and Armenians.