Juvenile dermatomyositis: a clinical overview.

The child who develops the symptoms of the specific rash, proximal muscle weakness, and fatigue should seek medical care promptly. With the advances in physical and medical therapy, many of the consequences of the disease can now be ameliorated. There are suggestive data that JDMS and PM may each have a different pathophysiology, but more evidence is needed. The next few years should be exciting as there is increased effort to determine if there is, in fact, a causal relationship between Coxsackievirus B or other enterovirus and genetic factors that alter the susceptibility to or severity of the course of the disease.