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- Researchers estimate that as many as 50% of cases are idiopathic (no known cause). The remaining 50% of cases may be the result of drugs, infections, foods or diseases.
- Drugs: Drugs are the most common cause of hypersensitivity vasculitis. While almost any drug can cause the condition, antibiotics (particularly beta–lactams like penicillin, amoxicillin and cephalosporins) are the most likely to cause vasculitis. Nonsteroidal anti–inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and diuretics also frequently cause vasculitis.
- Infections: Many types of infections have been associated with hypersensitivity vasculitis. Upper respiratory tract infections (particularly beta–hemolytic streptococcal infection) and viral hepatitis are most often implicated. In addition, HIV infection may also be associated with some cases of vasculitis.
- Food: Foods or food additives may cause vasculitis.
- Diseases: Collagen vascular diseases (immune disorder that damages the tendons, bones, and connective tissues, which are made from collagen) account for 10–15% of cases of vasculitis. In particular, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome (autoimmune disease that destroys the glands that produce tears and saliva) and lupus erythematosus (autoimmune disorder that causes skin lesions) have been associated with vasculitis. Also, Wegener granulomatosis (type of vasculitis that affects the lungs, kidneys and other organs), polyarteritis nodosa (autoimmune disorder that causes inflammation of the small and medium–sized arteries) and Churg–Strauss syndrome (connective tissue disease that causes vasculitis) have also been associated with vasculitis.
Inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease) may also be associated with hypersensitivity vasculitis.
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