What is Lupus ?

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease which causes inflammation of various parts of the body, especially the skin, joints, blood, and kidneys.

Lupus is sometimes difficult to diagnose.

Lupus is a very individualized disorder.

Lupus is controllable and treatable.

Lupus is NOT . . .
    rare
    contagious
    infectious
    cancerous
    solely a woman's disease
    is not necessarily fatal

Lupus suffers from more lack of awareness than any other major disease.

Computations based on population figures available March, 2002, show that 29,416 persons who have lupus reside in the seven counties served by the Southeast Florida Chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America - Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, Broward, Miami/Dade and Monroe.

This total represents one-third of the total number of lupus cases in Florida. Miami/Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties combined account for 27,066 lupus victims, around 30 percent of the state total.

These figures are based on the national statistic that one of every 185 persons has lupus. These figures may be conservative in Southeast Florida due to the large and growing number of ethnic minority populations, which have a higher than average incidence of lupus, such as Hispanics, Haitians and African Americans.