a better news article than most

[Guest guest]

ILLNESS

Bernie Mac's death draws attention to mysterious sarcoidosis

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Harlan Spector

Plain Dealer Reporter

The death of actor and comedian Bernie Mac on Saturday put

a spotlight on a mysterious inflammatory disease that Mac

reportedly battled for years, and which strikes black

Americans particularly hard.

Sarcoidosis is a chronic disease that can attack any organ,

but most often shows up as clusters of inflammatory cells in

the lungs. It may produce no symptoms, or cause asthmalike

shortness of breath and chest pain.

Mac died at age 50 of pneumonia at a Chicago hospital. His

publicist said the pneumonia was unrelated to Mac's

sarcoidosis, which went into remission in 2005, the

Associated Press reported. But doctors speculated

sarcoidosis might have played a role because it would be

unusual for pneumonia alone to kill a 50-year-old.

Doctors don't know what triggers sarcoidosis or why

blacks -- especially black women -- and Scandinavians have

the highest rates. Though the disease is rarely fatal, black

Americans die 16 times more often than whites do from it,

according to the American Lung Association.

The Cuyahoga County coroner ruled in May that black R & B

singer Levert, 39, died of complications of sarcoidosis

while in jail for failing to pay child support.

Dr. Edgar , a chief adviser at University Hospitals

Case Medical Center who has devoted a long career to

minority health issues, said sarcoidosis is often suspected

when adults develop breathing difficulty for the first time.

The lung ailment typically strikes between ages 20 and 40.

"It can manifest itself on any part of the body,"

said. "It can present as a skin issue. It can

present as a heart issue. Usually, it shows up as a lung

issue."

Steroids and immune-suppressing drugs are used to treat the

disease, but there is no cure.

In some cases, the inflammation and the sandlike cell

formations - called granulomas - recede naturally.

UH lung specialist Dr. Finigan said many patients

with the disease don't have symptoms at all. "You

can have sarcoidosis and not even know it," he said.

Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic, which began a sarcoidosis

center of excellence a few years ago, are studying risk

factors that may explain why some patients become extremely

ill and others suffer no ill effects, said Dr. Jeff Chapman.

"It's highly variable," Chapman said.

"Most people with a diagnosis of sarcoidosis do well

and a few do not."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

hspector@...,

29:11, For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself" ( 16:24

NIV).