Surgeon General Doctor Steven Galson has announced a new campaign aimed at raising both doctors’ and patients’ awareness about the dangers of blood clots that easily desguise themselves as nothing more than a corny leg pain. Being fairly difficult to diagnose, such a clot that forms in the leg or the groin and goes by the medical name of deep vein thrombosos (DVT), could easily become deadly if it manages to travel to the lungs, where it becomes a pulmonary embolism, if the initial pain is written off as a trifle.

The campaign revealed that anually, a number ranging from 350,000 to 600,000 Americans suffer from a blood clot, of which approximately100,000 die because of it. The triggering factors of DVT include recent surgery, a broken bone, a fall, a car crash, taking birth control pills or menopause hormones, pregnancy, obesity, heavy smoking and being in cramped places for a long period of time. The risk of getting a blood clot increases with age, people over 65 being more prone to the event.

Steven Galson’s call to action targets better education of consumers as well as of doctors and also further research into the issue. Americans are urged to call a doctor or present themselves to the emergency room immediately if they experience shortness of breath or other breathing difficulties or swelling or pain in the calf.

In addition to Galson’s campaign, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will be issuing a treatment-and-prevention guide for doctors, along with a booklet advising people what to do if they are at risk for DVT.