On Aug. 31, 1977, in recognition of the seriousness of lupus and America’s commitment to its control, the U.S. Congress, by joint resolution approved July 25, 1977, President Carter signed Public Law 95-72 to issue a proclamation designating the week of September 18 through 24, 1977, as National Lupus Week and calling for its appropriate observance.

The cause of lupus still eludes investigators, but promising leads into its relationship to the immune system, as well as to other factors, may yield new understanding of the origin of this chronic inflammatory disease, which afflicts an estimated fifty thousand new victims annually.