My son has had red joints. can kids get arthritis?

Yes: Yes, kids can get several forms of arthritis. Arthritis just means "inflammation of the joints". Different causes include infections (lyme disease, bacterial "septic" arthritis) and autoimmune or inflammatory "rheumatic" diseases (lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid, psoriatic, dermatomyositis, ankylosing spondlyitis).

Yes: Although the most common type of arthritis, osteoarthritis, is very uncommon in kids, another type of arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is more common. This type of arthritis is known to cause swollen and sometimes red joints. There are other types of arthritis that cause this too, so it is very important to have these symptoms evaluated.

Yes: Kids are susceptible to many types of joint problems, including some types of arthritis. A symptom like this requires an office visit to determine the cause of the redness in order to determine proper therapy.

Yes: There are forms of childhood arthritis like juevenile rheumatoid arthritis. Typically children will present with red, warm, swollen painful joints without any history of trauma.

Yes: Yes, but if they get multiple joint arthritis, it is possibly due to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. This child should be evaluated by their physician.