Sarcoidosis is a disease that usually strikes in the lungs, although other organs, the skin, the lymph nodes, the heart, the spleen, the liver, the pancreas, the eyes, and the nervous system may also be involved. It is a disease of the connective tissue which is accompanied by an increase of calcium in the blood. The cause is unknown but it could be connected to environmental factors and there is a slight risk that it is hereditary. The disease usually resolves itself spontaneously. It strikes men and women equally between the ages of 20 and 50.

There are often no symptoms and the diagnosis may be made coincidentally after an X-ray examination of the chest.

When there are symptoms they typically include: general unease, slight fever, weight loss, breathlessness, trouble with the joints, sore spots on the skin, and infections that affect the iris of the eyes.

Anyone, of any race or age, can develop sarcoidosis. But the following factors make it more likely you'll get the disease:

Race : Black Americans are far more likely to develop sarcoidosis than are white Americans. And although sarcoidosis affects white men and women about equally, black women get the disease twice as often as black men do.
Ethnicity : People of Scandinavian, German or Irish descent have an increased risk.
Age : Sarcoidosis normally occurs between the ages of 20 and 40. It rarely affects children, but can occur in adults older than 50.