40-60 new SLE cases in Sabah every year
Published on: Sunday, September 21, 2014
KOTA KINABALU: About 40 to 60 new cases of Systemic Lupus Eritematosus (SLE) or Lupus are reported in Sabah every year.Malaysia SLE Association Medical Adviser (Sabah Chapter), Dr Eleen Chong, disclosed this during the Lupus Awareness Day and 2014 Walk-a-Payung campaign here on Saturday."Lupus normally attacks those in the 15–44 age group. This is very disappointing because this period marks the prime years of our life as we are still in school, or have started our careers, or we have got married and started to build our family.
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"Lupus is a lifelong disorder of the immune system. Immune cells attack the body's own healthy tissues, leading to inflammation and tissue damage. Symptoms may be limited to the skin but more often Lupus also causes internal problems such as joint pain."Globally, the number of Lupus patients are estimated to be more than five million and 90 per cent of them are women," she said.Dr Chong also said since 2013, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Reumatology Unit had collected the Lupus patients' data and so far about 127 patients had registered with the QEH Lupus Registry."Meanwhile, about 220 patients under the Nefrology Unit care, whose kidneys have been affected by Lupus, were also recorded.
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"But we believe the number recorded does not show the actual number of Lupus patients because a lot of cases are still not identified or misdiagnosed," Dr Chong said.According to her, they also found a worrying fact that many Lupus patients come late to undergo treatment with them.
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"Sometimes the Lupus diagnosis could only be done after several months or years. The late diagnosis is due to the patients being late to get medical treatment or doctors failed to diagnose it because of a lack of awareness about Lupus."Because of that, the patients not only suffer organ damage but also suffer anxiety and depression," she said.Meanwhile Dr Chong hoped the Walk-a-Payung campaign would be changed to Run-a- Payung next year and attract more participants.The event was held to create awareness that Lupus patients are sensitive to sunlight. She said it was aimed to increase awareness about Lupus among the community and doctors so that Lupus would be detected earlier, to improve the health service system for Lupus patients, to add research regarding the cause of Lupus and its treatment and also to encourage Lupus Epidemiology data collection to be better globally.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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