World Lupus Day is on May 10th.

Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease marked by its effect on various parts of the body, including the joints, skin, blood, and kidneys. It is a condition in which the body's immune system attacks its own cells and tissues.

 

The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) estimates between 1.5 - 2 million Americans have a form of lupus, but the actual number may be higher. More than 90 percent of people with lupus are women. Symptoms and diagnosis occur most often when women are in their child-bearing years, between the ages of 15 and 45.

In the United States, lupus is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans than in Caucasians. Data from Dr Soetomo Hospital from 2003 - 2006, there are 215 patients. In Indonesia there are more than 200.000 patients.

Normally the body's immune system makes proteins called antibodies, to protect the body against viruses, bacteria, and other foreign materials. These foreign materials are called antigens.

When a person has lupus, his or her body is unable to determine the difference between antigens and the individual's cells and body tissues. As such, the immune system creates antibodies against the individual's own tissues. These antibodies are called autoantibodies.

Inflammation is considered the primary feature of lupus. Inflammation, which in Latin means "set on fire," is characterized by pain, heat, redness, swelling and loss of function, either on the inside or on the outside of the body (or both). For many people, the disease is mild and affects only a few organs. For others, however, the disease can be severe and even life threatening.

There are four types of lupus exist — systemic lupus erythematosus, discoid lupus erythematosus, drug-induced lupus erythematosus and neonatal lupus occurs quite infrequently. Of these, systemic lupus erythematosus is the most common and serious form of lupus.

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Brazilian Model Died at 20th After Amputee

(CNN) -- Brazilian model Mariana Bridi da Costa, whose hands and feet were amputated in a bid to save her from a deadly and little-known illness, died early Saturday, two friends of the model told CNN.

Brazilian model Mariana Bridi da Costa died Saturday after undergoing multiple amputations.

"Unfortunately Mari couldn't resist any longer. She passed away at 3 a.m. today," Henrique Fontes, executive director of Miss World Brazil, said in an e-mail to CNN.

Da Costa, 20, had fought a pernicious disease that has ravaged her body and forced doctors to perform the amputations and extract part of her stomach as well as both kidneys.

She had been breathing through a respirator, officials at Dorio Silva Hospital in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo said Friday.

Da Costa was first diagnosed as suffering a urinary tract infection. By the time the infection was detected, it had developed into septicemia.

Doctors decided to amputate first her hands and then her feet after the condition reduced the amount of oxygen being delivered to her limbs.

Just less than one month ago, da Costa was a healthy young woman well on the way to achieving her dream of becoming a world class model.

She placed sixth in the Miss Bikini International competition in China last year and took first place for the "Best in Swimsuit" category. In 2007 and 2008, she came fourth in the contest to become Brazil's entrant for the Miss World pageant.

Simoes told CNN that da Costa woke up from a coma 10 days ago and told him how much she wanted to be alive.

"She told me she was praying to stay alive, that she still had a lot to do on this earth, that she wanted to go on with her plans," he said.

"The whole world, I repeat, the whole world is touched by the case of Mariana," it said.



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