National Psoriasis Foundation Seeks 10,000 Americans to Support Psoriasis Research for World Pso...( PORTLAND Ore. Oct. 28 -- For Wor...),Health

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For World Psoriasis Day, Oct. 29, the National Psoriasis Foundation wants 10,000 Americans to visit its Web site, http://www.psoriasis.org, and sign up to support increased research funding for psoriasis, a noncontagious disease of the immune system that appears on the skin.

During the fifth annual World Psoriasis Day, awareness activities will occur all over the world to help increase understanding, improve access to treatments and build unity among the psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis community.

"Over the past decade, the U.S. federal government has spent less than $1 a day per patient on psoriasis research," said Randy Beranek, president and CEO of the National Psoriasis Foundation. "It's critical we increase investment in a disease that affects 125 million people worldwide. The Foundation is asking Americans to show that psoriasis counts."

In addition to counting names, the Psoriasis Foundation is encouraging its advocates to write their representatives to support Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Research, Cure, and Care Act (H.R. 1188/S. 1459), aka PPARCCA, the first-ever comprehensive psoriasis legislation.

"This bill is an important piece of legislation that will help people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis receive the treatment they need," said Beranek. "It also encourages the National Institutes of Health to strengthen biomedical research."

According to the National Institutes of Health, as many as 7.5 million people are affected with psoriasis, a chronic, autoimmune disease that commonly appears on the body as red, scaly lesions that crack and bleed. Ten to 30 percent of people with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory disease which causes pain, stiffness and swelling in and around the joints.

"Many people believe psoriasis is a cosmetic skin condition," Beranek continued. "Psoria
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