Why We Must Find a Cure for Epilepsy
The Toll of Epilepsy Has Been Overlooked - and the Research Underfunded -For Too Long
NEW YORK, April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- "Put harshly, we need more of a cancerlike sensibility around epilepsy," Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham writes in the April 20 cover, "The Mystery of Epilepsy" (on newsstands Monday, April 13). "We cannot usually see our friends' cancer, but we do not hesitate to invest the search for a cure for different cancers with the utmost cultural and political importance. We must now do the same with epilepsy." Meacham writes that the toll of epilepsy has been overlooked -- and the research underfunded -- for too long. Public and private funding for research lag far behind other neurological afflictions. "It is time to remedy that gap, and to raise epilepsy to the front ranks of public and medical concern," he writes.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090412/NY97676 )
"Epilepsy in America is as common as breast cancer, and takes as many lives," Meacham writes. A mysterious and widely misunderstood affliction, epilepsy is a disorder in which the brain produces sudden bursts of electrical energy that can interfere with a person's consciousness, movements or sensations. By some estimates, the mortality rate for people with epilepsy is two to three times higher -- and the risk of sudden death is 24 times greater -- than that of the general population. Yet epilepsy still receives too little attention, either from the medical community or the public at large. "One reason is that advances in drug treatments have created the popular impression that epilepsy is now an essentially manageable condition," Meacham writes. "Most people with epilepsy are not in a constant state of seizure -- they are, rather, in perpetual but quiet danger -- their condition can appear less serious than it truly is. It is all too human, but all too true, that a problem, including the problem of a serious medical affliction, stays out of mind when it is out of sight."
Also in the cover package, Senior Editor Jerry Adler and Contributor Eliza Gray profile a doctor on the front lines of the epilepsy wars, Orrin Devinsky of
Susan Axelrod, who is married to David Axelrod, President Obama's senior adviser, and is a founding board member and president of CURE, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy, contributes an essay on her family's experience with epilepsy -- and what it has led her to believe must be done. The Axelrods' daughter, Lauren, suffered her first seizure when she was just 7 months old. "Epilepsy entered our lives more than 25 years ago, and yet, far too often, I have no confidence that outcomes today will be any better than they were for Lauren," she writes.
(Read cover at www.Newsweek.com)
Cover: http://www.newsweek.com/id/193586
In the Grip of the Unknown: http://www.newsweek.com/id/193484
Agony, Hope & Resolve: http://www.newsweek.com/id/193587
'/>"/>
| SOURCE Newsweek Copyright©2009 PR Newswire. All rights reserved |
Related medicine news :
1. NEWSWEEK Cover: Stress Could Save Your Life (Or at Least its Better for You Than You Think)
2. NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/September 1, 2008 Issue (on newsstands Monday, August 25, 2008).
3. NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet - July 7-14, 2008 Double Issue (On Newsstands Monday, June 30)
4. NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/May 26, 2008 Issue (on newsstands Monday, May 19, 2008)
5. NEWSWEEK Cover: Growing Up Bipolar
6. NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/May 19, 2008 Issue (on newsstands Monday, May 12, 2008)
7. NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/April 21, 2008 Issue (on newsstands Monday, April 14).
8. NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/March 24, 2008 Issue (on newsstands Monday, March 17)
9. NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/March 3, 2008 Issue (on newsstands Monday, February 25)
10. NEWSWEEK Cover: The Hunt for an Addiction Vaccine
11. NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/February 4, 2008 Issue (on newsstands Monday, January 28)
| Copyright © 2003-2012 Bio-Medicine. All rights reserved. ABOUT | CONTACT US | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS AND CONDITIONS |  |