Alpha-1 Awareness Month

WHEREAS, Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (AAT Deficiency or Alpha-1) is one of the most common hereditary disorders in the world and can result in life-threatening liver disease in children and adults or in lung disease in adults; and

WHEREAS, Alpha-1 has been identified in virtually all populations; an estimated 25 million people in the United States carry a single deficient gene that causes Alpha-1 and have the potential to pass the gene on to their children; and

WHEREAS, Alpha-1 is widely under diagnosed and misdiagnosed; and

WHEREAS, although proper diagnosis can be made using a simple blood test, fewer than ten percent of those predicted to have Alpha-1 are aware that they have the disorder, and it often takes an average of five doctors and seven years from the time symptoms appear before proper diagnosis is made; and

WHEREAS, during the month of November, a nationwide awareness campaign will take place throughout the United States to educate the public as well as the medical community about Alpha-1 detection and treatment for those affected by this condition:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Robert Bentley, Governor of Alabama, do hereby proclaim November 2011, as

Alpha-1 Awareness Month

in the State of the Alabama.

 

Given Under My Hand and the Great Seal of the Office of the Governor at the State Capitol in the City of Montgomery on the 15th day of November 2011.

 

                                                                                ___Governor Robert Bentley