Kendrick Meek: “I want to shine the spotlight on a very silent national killer of women, lupus, L-U-P-U-S. A lot of people have never…”

“I want to shine the spotlight on a very silent national killer of women, lupus, L-U-P-U-S. A lot of people have never heard of that term, but it is a silent killer of women. Lupus is a serious, complex inflammatory autoimmune disease. It affects women nine times more often than men. Between 1.4 to 2 million Americans have been diagnosed with this terrible disease called lupus. Many more cases go undiagnosed, since the symptoms of this disease come and go. Lupus also mimics many other illnesses. Although lupus may occur at any age and in either sex, 90 percent of those affected are women. During the childbearing years, lupus strikes women 10 to 15 times more often than men. In addition, lupus is more prevalent in African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asians. There is a disproportionate effect upon African-American women. Among African-American women, the disease occurs with three times the frequency of occurrence in white women. An estimated 1 in 250 African-American women between the ages of 15 and 65 develops the disease.”