(20 ILCS 2310/2310-377)
Sec. 2310-377.
Lupus education and outreach.
(a) The Illinois General Assembly finds and declares the following:
(1) Lupus is a chronic, incurable auto-immune disease |
| of unknown origin that mainly affects women of childbearing age, is difficult to diagnose, and causes severe, potentially life-threatening organ damage.
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(2) The Lupus Foundation of America estimates that
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| 1.4 million people in the U.S. have a form of lupus.
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(3) Lupus causes the immune system to attack the
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| body's healthy cells and tissues producing skin damage, rheumatoid arthritis, life-threatening inflammation of multiple major organs, and a potentially fatal failure of the renal, circulatory, or central nervous system.
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(4) Symptoms include joint pain, rash, unusual loss
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| of hair, unexplained fever, low blood counts, sensitivity to the sun, and fingers that turn pale or purple when exposed to cold.
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(5) According to the Lupus Foundation of America, a
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| survey of its members revealed that more than half of all people with lupus suffered 4 or more years and were examined by 3 or more doctors before obtaining a correct diagnosis.
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(6) According to the Center for Disease Control and
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| Prevention, the number of lupus-related deaths between 1979 and 1988 increased dramatically; African American women, ages 45-64, experienced a 70% increase, the largest increase among all groups in the 20 years studied.
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(b) Subject to appropriation, the Department shall conduct an education and
outreach campaign
in
order to
raise awareness about the symptoms and treatment of lupus, a potentially
life-threatening disease.
(Source: P.A. 93-129, eff. 1-1-04.)
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