IU campus to promote, educate during Lupus Awareness Month

October can conjure up many associations, including Halloween, midterms and falling leaves. Others associate this month with raising awareness of a disease that infects millions of Americans and affects their loved ones. Doctors, patients and advocates commemorate Lupus Awareness Month in October. \nLupus is an inflammatory disease that occurs when infection-fighting antibodies confuse body cells and tissues with harmful bacteria and viruses, according to the Lupus Foundation of America's Web site. This confusion causes the antibodies to attack the body's own cells and damage different parts of the body, including the skin, joints, kidneys and blood. There is no known cause for lupus, and while symptoms can be treated, there is no known cure.\nThe only Indiana chapter of the Lupus Foundation, the Northwest Indiana chapter, is sponsoring several events in the area for Lupus Awareness Month. Dr. Wendy Kinsey Corning and Dr. William Rusche will hold a seminar presenting information about lupus and new advances in research of the disease at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Bloomington Hospital's Wagmiller Auditorium. Dr. Kinsey Corning will also have a presentation and question and answer session about lupus at 6 p.m. Oct. 14 in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, room 125. Both presentations are open to the public.\nIn addition, the chapter is holding the Lupus Walk for a Cure, a 5K walk/run at Countryside Park in Portage, Ind. The event will raise money for researching a cause and a cure for lupus. For more information on upcoming events, visit the chapter's Web site at www.lupusnwichapter.org.\nDr. Nancy Ellis is an associate professor of applied science and makes a point of covering lupus in her women's health classes. To her, the goals of Lupus Awareness Month are to inform the public of the disorder, give social support to those with lupus, update research and alert the public to the future potential of getting the disorder.\n"Lupus is an insidious disease," Ellis said. "People can suffer from it for a long time without being diagnosed."\nCommon symptoms of lupus include achy joints, fever, arthritis, fatigue and skin rashes. Because lupus symptoms mimic those of other diseases, misdiagnoses are also common. This month is also a chance for family physicians to learn about the disease so they can better treat affected patients.\nGrad student and Lupus Foundation intern Lauren Boyle was inspired to work with the foundation after her aunt and cousin were diagnosed with the disease and hopes that university women will gain information about it.\n"I have asked students what they know about lupus, and many don't know what it is," Boyle said. "This disease mostly affects women between the ages of 15 and 44. College women are right in the middle of that."\nBoyle also said 1.5 million Americans have lupus, with 16,000 diagnosed every year. While men do get diagnosed, women make up the overwhelming majority of sufferers. For every man with lupus, there are nine women suffering from the disease. \nWith such statistics, it's no wonder that the official title for this Lupus Awareness Month is "Someone You Know Has Lupus." Advocates hope that by participating in this month's events, students will better understand the disease that affects "someone they know."\n-- Contact staff writer Jorie Slodki at jslodk@indiana.edu.