The immigration of people from other countries, even more so from other continents, is a challenge for rheumatologists. Diseases such as familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) or Behcet's disease (BD) are rare in Western Europe, whereas in North Africa and the Mediterranean countries they are even more common than rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or spondyloarthritis (SPA). Furthermore, FMF is associated with spondyloarthritis, which is mostly HLA-B27 negative, and it is also associated with BD. Rheumatic fever is still common especially in African, but also in some Mediterranean countries, whereas it is almost eradicated in Europe. Possible differential diagnoses such as rheumatic symptoms in genetically determined anaemia, or infections such as HIV, tuberculosis or parasitosis need to be considered, as they are all relatively common in the countries of origin of most immigrants in contrast to Germany and Northwest Europe. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart - New York.

inflammatory rheumatic diseases prevalences immigrants

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