Familial Occurrence of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

The familia occurrence of systemic lupus erythematosus (S. L. E.) is reported in two sisters of Italian ancestry and a mother and daughter of Mexican ancestry. All four cases exhibited typical symptoms and signs of the disease. The first patient was studied before the L. E. test was in general use, but autopsy revealed the principal microscopic criteria for S. L. E. The other three patients had positive results of L. E. tests, and their conditions have been well controlled by the careful use of corticosteroids. Fifteen other well-documented cases in the literature bring the total reported familial instances of S. L. E. to 19.