Parker has a severe primary immune deficiency. His Dad has a blog. I received this via Google News Alerts today: Saving the ‘bubble boy’ Toronto Star – Ontario, Canada … received the diagnosis, Kevin went online to research the disease and found there are only three possible treatments — a bone marrow transplant, which has…
Primary Immunodeficiency
Viral vs. bacterial with help of the CBC
When viewing the complete blood count (CBC) results, what combinations let you know when an infection is bacterial or viral? Here’s the answer: The things to look for in the CBC that support the presence of an infectious process are the white blood cell count (WBC) and differential. In non-localized infections of bacterial and viral…
Clinical protocol at the NIH for NEMO
I found this clinical research protocol at the NIH website today. They plan to enroll 600 people with x-linked hyper IgM Syndrome (CD40L gene) and NEMO gene mutations. Six hundred sounds like a big number… Study Type: Observational Study Design: Natural History Further study details as provided by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC):…
A prayer for Simon!
Simon is almost six months old, he’s from Chicago. Simon has NEMO, diagnosed 38 days ago. Simon is starting conditioning (chemo therapy) tomorrow for a stem cell transplant. Simon will receive stem cells from his sister, she’s a full match. Please keep Simon in your prayers. Chemo should only make way for the new cells……
Cure 4 Jackson!
Jackson is a boy from Houston Texas with NEMO. He has spent more than 6 months of his life in the hospital with infections. He has ectodermal dysplasia with a primary immune deficiency, similar to Andy. He has had a lot of infections, mostly bacterial infections (sepsis and bacterimia) of gram negative bacteria (serratia and…
IVIG Alert
Children with primary immune deficiency receive intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) also known as gammaglobulin infusions frequently. IVIG is obtained from blood donors and it contains antibodies from the donors functioning immune system. Antibodies help fight infections… Andy used to receive IVIG every two to three weeks. Turns out that many children that use Medicare in the…
Astronaut gravity-dependent immune deficiency
According to this article Jim Boonyaratanakornkit, a medical student from The University of California San Francisco found a gravity-dependent immune deficiency. The article mentions that space crews have an increased susceptibility to infection… I wonder how do bacteria and viruses respond to zero gravity? The goal of Jim’s project was to analyze the changes in…
Fred Modell’s comments about “Vivaglobin’
I received the comments from Fred Modell to the Vivaglobin product from ZLB Behring via The Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s very good news for patients because there is a choice available to treating physicians,” said Fred Modell, president of the New York-based Jeffrey Modell Foundation, started by Modell and his wife, Vicki, in memory of their…
FDA approves IG Subcutaneous
FDA today announced the approval of immune globulin for subcutaneous injection use for the prevention of serious infections in patients with Primary Immune Deficiency. The manufacturer is ZLB Behring. Read news via FDA here. Read the product page via ZLB Behring here.
A test to screen patients with NEMO
Jordan S Orange and Raquel P. Deering just published a new article at the Clinical Vaccine Immunology journal where they talk about a test to evaluate primary immune deficiencies like NEMO where cells are unable to recognize certain disease-producing micro-organisms. Just imagine! Andy had to deal with infections for two years before finding his diagnosis,…