Mia Alessandra : life with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Mia Alessandra Nieto is an 8-year old living with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) in Austin, Texas. When she was diagnosed at 10 months, she was the youngest child ever diagnosed with JIA in the state of Texas. However, it took 37 days to confirm her condition because there is an immense lack on knowledge in the field of pediatric rheumatology among general practitioners despite the fact that JIA is the most prevalent chronic condition in children in the United States with over 300,000 diagnosed. This is an overview of Mia’s story, along with information regarding the lack of knowledge on the condition not only in the general population but mainly and more importantly among the medical professionals in the United States.