Nakazawa: Lupus, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis are just a few of the more common types of autoimmune disease, but in fact there are nearly a hundred other known autoimmune diseases. One in 12 people -- and one in 9 women -- has an autoimmune disease. That's nearly 24 million Americans. Yet even though autoimmune diseases afflict more than double the number of people who have cancer, and a woman is 8 times more likely to have an autoimmune disease than breast cancer, 90 percent of Americans say they can't name a single autoimmune disease. That's because people just don't know that many painful and life-altering disorders that increasingly afflict so many of their friends and family members today are autoimmune in nature; the body's immune system, which is meant to protect us, is mistakenly attacking the body's own organs and systems.
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