It is an uncomfortable thought to imagine that out of every 3 people alive today, 1 has arthritis of one form or another. While we are grappling with HIV and Aids infections and cancer management, it shocks you even further when you realise that no other illness or accident or catastrophe causes more disability than this disease of the joints. In America, 1.2 % of GDP is spent in managing this disease.

But it is also a known fact that there is no cure for arthritis. What then is the point of research? Is it to simply come up with newer ways of managing it? The answer is yes. But there is a whole branch of researchers who have invested lots of talent in observing the development of this illness with a view to expose an observable pattern on how it begins.

Everyone feels sorry that a person they know and love is afflicted by this disease. But what can they do? You feel helpless that you cannot even prevent the next person from getting it. other than secondary osteoarthritis that is caused from repeated trauma on joints, most other forms of this malady are rather obscure when they are in their early stages.

Professor James Cook, who is with veterinary medicine and surgery, said that according to their findings, there is a pattern in the way canine arthritis begins. It is a matter of certain genes being found around the joints just before the disease is diagnosed. The research is still in its early stages and there are difficult in its progress.

While the researchers working with man's best friend have identified this gene, they have not yet been able to find a way of either knowing its source or interfering with its work there. It is hoped that once they establish such salient points, it is going to be possible to stem arthritis in people as well.

The problem has traditionally been to diagnose it early. If this research comes to a successful close, we shall be ahead of that goal already. This means that we shall not only diagnose early but pinpoint to specific individuals that they are at risk of getting the disease.

By so doing, many will change their lifestyles and improve their lives. This has already been suggested as a way of managing the illness of the joints. Exercise, diet, pain and inflammation control are current areas of concern with today's patient. It will soon be only a matter of diet, exercise and specialised pre-emptive surgery and pharmaceutical regimes. But that all depends on the route this research will take and the magnitude of its success. Professor James cook presented his paper at a meeting of the orthopedic Research Society in D.C. in February, 2005.

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