Familial Mediterranean Fever in the World

The above overview shows that FMF is not restricted to Mediterranean countries, and the lack of diagnosis in other areas of the world is probably due to a lack of awareness of this fascinating disease. Based on the carrier states of MEFV mutations, FMF is expected to be found in many other countries and it may well be that such patients have either mild disease according to the kind of mutations they carry or the environmental factors, or that they were mistakenly diagnosed as having another disease such as BD, systemic lupus erythematosus, palindromic rheumatism, or rheumatic fever, diseases whose clinical features resemble FMF. We hope that the present review will raise the awareness of physicians regarding this disease so that patients can obtain the correct diagnosis and receive the appropriate treatment.