Sonya worked cleaning homes for 30 years so she could send her two children to college. Several times, she had been forced to call her employers to tell them she could not come in to work because one...

Sonya worked cleaning homes for 30 years so she could send her two children to college. Several times, she had been forced to call her employers to tell them she could not come in to work because one of her kneecaps was swollen and painful. What is Sonya’s condition, and what probably caused it?

Mrs. Bell, a 45-year-old woman, appeared at her physician’s office complaining of unbearable pain in the interphalangeal joint of her right great toe. The joint was red and swollen. When asked about previous episodes, she recalled a similar attack two years earlier that disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Her diagnosis was arthritis. (a) What type? (b) What is the precipitating cause of this particular type of arthritis?