What can be done to educate people about diagnosis and awareness of the disease?
JOHN: My twin brother and I were both diagnosed with allergy-induced asthma at 35 years old. If we had not had an extensive family history to look at, I don’t think it would have been diagnosed for years. But at 40 years old, we realized that Mom died at 46 of early-onset emphysema. All of a sudden, it was thought, why don’t we test the Walsh brothers for this Alpha-1? So I think that’s a typical progression of diagnosis from allergies, asthma or emphysema. The Alpha-1 Foundation has invested more than $250,000 in the development of the standards for the diagnosis and the treatment of individuals with Alpha-1, hoping that at last we would have a platform to work from to get physicians to realize that all individuals with COPD must be screened for Alpha-1. And that’s hardly moved at all. The docs don’t have time in the current setting of managed care. The specialists don’t have time, let alone a primary care physician. They can’t even do simple spirometry to test for COPD. DENNIS: Is th
