Health

Lupus Outbreak May Mean Hope for Victims

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 31, 2002 / 8:40 AM EST / CBS

A newly discovered outbreak of Lupus in Boston may lead to vital clues about the disease. CBS Correspondent Jim Axelrod has the latest into the medical condition in which the immune system attacks tissues in joints and organs.

Lupus is a disorder that affects some 200,000 Americans a year. An area in Boston, however, has recently gotten more than its share of the disease. Bobbi Saucer is one of the victims.

"Lupus is a very nasty, devastating disease," she says. Saucer lives in one of three mostly Black neighborhoods in Boston, where doctors are now seeing higher than normal rates of Lupus, reportedly over 100 cases.

Experts looking to explain this apparent spike in Lupus have their eyes on another type of cluster. These neighborhoods have an unusually large number of hazardous waste sites, more than 200 in a three-mile radius. That's four times what’s expected in an area this size.

Some of the sites--such as a bus depot and a post office--were built over before the hazardous waste was discovered. Others were abandoned right next to homes, says Suzanne Conton, the Assistant Health Commissioner for Massachusetts.

"The contamination was so bad at some points in time at this site, that parts of the first floor of the building were eaten away as a result of the chemicals," says Conton. She adds, however, that the outbreak could help researchers find out more about the disease. "If we are going to find something--we in the big national research picture--that ties these two types of events together, we are likely to find it here sooner than elsewhere."

The government has put up $600,000 to get the research started. Experts say the money may not be much, but for women like Bobbie Saucer, the drop of hope beats none at all.

"If I had the income to move out of where I'm sitting right now, I'd be gone," she says.

About 90% of people with lupus are female and lupus is more common in blacks than whites. Symptoms usually start between the ages of 20 and 45. Early in the disease, a person may have one or many symptoms, including fatigue, fever, nausea, weight loss, muscle and joint aches, a red scaly rash on the nose and cheeks, and sun sensitivity, as well as a lowered red blood cell count (anemia) or other blood abnormalities. Other organs, including the lungs, liver and kidneys, can be affected, and women may have an increased chance of miscarriage.