CLINICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NORTH-AFRICAN AND IRAQI JEWS WITH FAMILIAL MEDITERRANEAN FEVER

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive disease c ausing attacks of fever and serositis. The gene causing this disease, designated MEFV, was mapped to the short arm of chromosome 16, but has not yet been cloned, North African and Iraqi Jews constitute the two largest population groups suffering from the disease in Israel. In thi s report we compared the severity of the disease between these two pop ulations. North African Jews were found to have a more severe disease manifested by an earlier age of onset, an increase in frequency and se verity of joint involvement, a higher incidence of erysipelas-like ery thema, and a higher dose of colchicine required to control symptoms. T he involvement of additional genes, environmental factors, and differe nt mutations in MEFV, may explain the clinical variation in disease se verity between these two population groups. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.