S.L.E.

Lupus Foundation: "It's Time for Answers on Lupus in New York City"

Foundation Urges New Yorkers with Lupus to Ask Their Doctor About the Just-Launched
Manhattan Lupus Surveillance Program.

New York, NY, February 15, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Thanks to a collaborative between New York
University and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the number of people with
systemic lupus (prevalence) and number of new cases (incidence) of lupus in Manhattan will finally be
properly measured.

How Many New Yorkers have lupus? How old are they? What race/ethnicity? What complications are
they hit with?

Are you one of them? If so, be sure to let your doctor know that you want to Be Counted in the
Manhattan Lupus Surveillance Program so that we can all raise lupus awareness—and get the data
down right so that services and care go to the New Yorkers who need them.

"These questions must be answered so that we can see just how many individuals in Manhattan have
lupus, and get an idea of how many people are diagnosed with lupus in a given year,” said New York
University's Jill Buyon, MD, one of the city's leading lupus doctors.

"Just like with the U.S. Census, concrete facts can help us all in more effectively raising awareness and
educating the community, researchers, as well as health care providers and hospitals about this often very
difficult chronic disease,” she said.

Be Counted (Anonymously)

"We hope people with lupus will ask their doctors (their rheumatologists, dermatologists, nephrologists)
to include their case in the count because the more of them that know about it, the more accurate we can
be in getting care to those who need it," said NYU's Peter Izmirly, MD.

Dr. Izmirly got his first major grant to study lupus from the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation and is now
spearheading the survey in close collaboration with Dr. Buyon.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is funding the collaborative study, and results will likely be
available in 2014.

Additional sites developing these registries are located in California, Michigan, and Georgia, and at
various locations through the Indian Health Service.

“We've been taking care of New Yorkers with lupus for over 40 years," said S.L.E. Lupus Foundation
Executive Director Margaret D. Dowd. "Our offices here near Penn Station as well as our website and
facebook pages buzz with activity, from support groups to educational programs, awareness campaigns,

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and more."

"With the Manhattan Lupus Surveillance Program, we'll learn even more about our New Yorkers with
lupus,” Dowd said. “So we hope everyone with lupus will ask for it...to Be Counted!"

About Lupus:
Systemic lupus erythematosus (S.L.E. or lupus) is a chronic complex and potentially fatal autoimmune
disease that affects more than 1.5-million Americans, mostly young women in their child-bearing years.
Lupus causes the immune system to become hyperactive, forming antibodies that attack and damage the
body's own tissues and vital organs including the heart, brain, kidneys and lungs. Lupus is a leading cause
of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and stroke among young women. As yet, there is no known
cause or cure but the progress of recent discoveries is highly promising.

About the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation:

The S.L.E. Lupus Foundation, headquartered in New York City with West Coast Division offices in Los
Angeles, is leading the fight against lupus through cutting-edge research, innovative patient and physician
education programs, and direct patient services. For more information about lupus and the Foundation,
visit www.lupusny.org or call 212-685-4118.

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Contact Information:
S.L.E. Lupus Foundation
Liane Stegmaier
212-685-4118
lstegmaier@lupusny.org
www.lupusny.org

Online Version of Press Release:

You can read the online version of this press release at: http://www.pr.com/press-release/298349

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