IT’S POSSIBLE that pesticides and dust from construction sites could be contributing to the high level of lupus among women in Barbados.
And as the island continues to record the second highest rate of lupus in the world, doctors treating the incurable immune system illness are trying to find out the exact reason for such high figures.
In addition, despite new drugs to treat the disease coming on the market, black lupus patients are still progressing to the stage where their kidneys fail.
Consultant rheumatologist Dr Cindy Flower said 15 to 25 women in their most productive years were diagnosed with lupus every year in Barbados.
The doctor was speaking as scores of newly diagnosed female lupus patients, one of whom was diagnosed last Friday, attended a seminar to learn about the disease at Amaryllis Beach Hotel yesterday.
She explained the disease was prevalent among people of West African ancestry in the diaspora and was more common among women than in men, with it being found 14 times more in Barbadian women than their male counterparts.
However, said Flower, the disease did not appear to be common in West Africa.
There is a mild version of lupus, which is drug induced and a severe type, which can lead to organ failure, she noted.
“Though there is a genetic predisposition to lupus,” she said, “we know that there is an environmental trigger and a lot of work has to be done to identify what the environmental trigger is.
“The environmental triggers may be pesticides. There is something called silica which is a dust released from construction sites and all those are things which are being studied,” she revealed.
The disease is treated with steroids which can have side effects or newer drugs which can cost thousands of dollars.
