Today (2/6/14) at home, my sister
showed me an article that she stumbled upon while looking through the different
health articles on Google News. My sister told me to take a look at the article
because not only was it interesting but it also pertained to my Immunology
class. She was right, it was about a 22-year old girl named Emma who has an autoimmune
disease called Systemic Scleroderma. Scleroderma affects the connective tissues
in a person’s body. The disease is characterized by the chronic hardening and
contraction of the skin and in some cases internal organs. What was unfortunate
in Emma’s case was that she was diagnosed for many different medical problems
for most of her life. According to the article, doctors could not explain the
medical problems she had when she was young such as her gastrointestinal
problems. In 2012, she discovered a bald spot on her head and rashes on her
legs. She thought it was just a common eczema. However, she would later develop
a very high fever of 104 degrees for a whole week. At first doctors diagnosed
her with a fungal infection but would later find out that she has scleroderma.
After
looking up the disease, I learned that there is currently no known cause or
cure for scleroderma. There are two types of scleroderma: localized, which
affects only the skin tissues and systemic, which affects the skin, blood
vessels, and major organs. I also learned that women are more likely to have
the disease than men. The article reminded me about the reading in chapter 1 in
Kuby Immunology about the broad
categories of immune dysfunction or failures. Autoimmune diseases are
characterized by “erroneous targeting of self-proteins or tissues by immune
cells (Owen).” With the help of Scleroderma Foundation, Emma is hoping that
the public would be more aware of the disease and help find the cure by
donating.
Link to the article:
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/health-science/item/64540-a-diagnosis-many-years-in-the-making-systemic-scleroderma-
Link to
Scleroderma Foundation:
More information
on Scleroderma: http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Scleroderma/scleroderma_ff.asp#e
Works Cited
Owen, Judith A., Jenni Punt, Sharon A.
Stranford, Patricia P. Jones, and Janis Kuby. "Overview of the Immune
System." Kuby Immunology. 7th ed. New York: W.H. Freeman and, 2012.
19. Print.
Patterson, Joel. "A Diagnosis Many
Years in the Making - Systemic Scleroderma." NewsWorks. Web. 06
Feb. 2014.
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