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Is there any difference? As far as I am concerned, "Since he was born, he has suffered from the disease" means he has still suffered from the disease. So now he is suffering from the disease.
"Since he was born, he suffered from the disease" means I don't know he has still suffered from the disease. Probably, he died from the disease in the past. (If I tell his grown-up daughter about her father's death, is it possible for me to say that?)
This kind of question gets asked a lot. Basically, the two sentences mean the same thing, however has suffered gives more (emotional in this case) emphasis to the amount of time suffering. In either case, you don't know if the suffering ended before he died, when you tell his grown-up daughter.
