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10 Warning Signs of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases


Today, people with primary immunodeficiency can be accurately diagnosed, and effective treatments are available to prevent or control damage to tissues and organs. Thus, it is extremely important that affected individuals are diagnosed early before such damage occurs. Diagnosis usually involves nothing more complicated than blood tests. Parents should be aware of the 10 warning signs and should speak to their physicians about the possible presence of primary immunodeficiency disease if a child shows more than one of the warning signs.

The 10 Warning Signs of Primary Immune Deficiency
(in no particular order)
  1. Eight or more new ear infections within one year.

  2. Two or more serious sinus infections within 1 year.

  3. Two or more months on antibiotics with little effect.

  4. Two or more pneumonias within 1 year.

  5. Failure of an infant to gain weight or grow normally.

  6. Recurrent, deep skin or organ abscesses.

  7. Persistent thrush in mouth or elsewhere on skin, after age 1.

  8. Need for intravenous antibiotics to clear infections.

  9. Two or more deep-seated infections such as sepsis, meningitis or cellulitis.

  10. A family history of primary immune deficiency.