Systemic lupus erythematosus
The rate of SLE varies between countries, ethnicity, and sex, and changes over time. In the United States, one estimate of the rate of SLE is 53 per 100,000; other estimates range from 322,000 to over 1 million. In Northern Europe the rate is about 40 per 100,000 people. SLE occurs more frequently and with greater severity among those of non-European descent. That rate has been found to be as high as 159 per 100,000 among those of Afro-Caribbean descent. Childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus generally presents between the ages of 3 and 15 and is four times more common in girls.
Leprosy stigma
On the May 7, 2007 Lou Dobb's Tonight program, Madeleline Cosman, a scholar and lawyer--not physician, falsely stated “there have been 7000 cases in the past 3 years.” In a later interview with 60 Minutes, Dobbs was questioned about the 7000 cases in 3 years figure but said, “If we reported it, it’s a fact.” On the contrary, The National Hansen’s Disease Programme represented this number in 30 years—not 3 years. Although Dobbs admitted the mistake in a later New York Times article, the ramifications of the false statement persisted.