SARCOIDOSIS AWARENESS MONTH
About Sarcoidosis Awareness Month
In 2008, Congress declared April as National Sarcoidosis Awareness Month to bring more attention to this rare, multi-system disease. Additionally, each year a single day within April is set aside via Presidential decree to focus on this disease.
About Sarcoidosis from the Bernie Mac Foundation:
Sarcoidosis causes inflammation, called granuloma, in different areas of the body. Because it can appear anywhere from the lungs to the eyes to the heart, it can manifest in a variety of symptoms, including swollen lymph nodes, skin sores, and lumps in the lungs—or no symptoms at all.
The inflammation can affect any organ in the body, but the lungs and skin are the most common. If the inflammation is allowed to continue, the end result will be scarring of the tissue. The goal of treatment is to interrupt the inflammation so that a damaging scar does not form. Scar formation is more important in certain organs – such as the lungs, eyes, heart and brain/brain coverings/nerves – disease involving these organs would be treated with anti-inflammatory medications.
Sarcoidosis is not a cancer and is not a contagious disease – in some cases it seems to run in families. Medical textbooks twenty years ago listed the disease as being primarily one of African American women and patients of Scandinavian descent. We now know that, although Sarcoid seems to be more prevalent in these populations, and there may be a genetic predisposition in these populations, the disease is by no means limited to these groups. More and more Caucasian men and women (of eastern European and Scandinavian descent), Puerto Rican patients, and African American men are being diagnosed.
With treatment, many people recover, although it can take several years. Others may have a harder time and can suffer greater organ damage. Even when symptoms subside—called remission—sarcoidosis can return. In rare cases, sarcoidosis is fatal. Researchers don’t yet know what causes it.
About Sarcoidosis from the Bernie Mac Foundation:
Sarcoidosis causes inflammation, called granuloma, in different areas of the body. Because it can appear anywhere from the lungs to the eyes to the heart, it can manifest in a variety of symptoms, including swollen lymph nodes, skin sores, and lumps in the lungs—or no symptoms at all.
The inflammation can affect any organ in the body, but the lungs and skin are the most common. If the inflammation is allowed to continue, the end result will be scarring of the tissue. The goal of treatment is to interrupt the inflammation so that a damaging scar does not form. Scar formation is more important in certain organs – such as the lungs, eyes, heart and brain/brain coverings/nerves – disease involving these organs would be treated with anti-inflammatory medications.
Sarcoidosis is not a cancer and is not a contagious disease – in some cases it seems to run in families. Medical textbooks twenty years ago listed the disease as being primarily one of African American women and patients of Scandinavian descent. We now know that, although Sarcoid seems to be more prevalent in these populations, and there may be a genetic predisposition in these populations, the disease is by no means limited to these groups. More and more Caucasian men and women (of eastern European and Scandinavian descent), Puerto Rican patients, and African American men are being diagnosed.
With treatment, many people recover, although it can take several years. Others may have a harder time and can suffer greater organ damage. Even when symptoms subside—called remission—sarcoidosis can return. In rare cases, sarcoidosis is fatal. Researchers don’t yet know what causes it.
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Event Sponsor:
Bernie Mac Foundation
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