Description about Immunodeficiency
An immunodeficiency is a decrease in your body's immune defenses. There are two general types of immunodeficiency. In one, there is an inadequate production of antibodies (substances that protect your body from infectious diseases), in response to a previous infection or an immunization. This may affect only one type of antibody, or several at once. Because of this immunodeficiency, your resistance to some kinds of infection, especially bacterial, is decreased.
The second type of immunodeficiency results from disorders of, or decreased numbers of, the various kinds of lymphocytes. These are white blood cells from the bone marrow and the lymph glands. In this form of the disorder, the ability of the lymphocytes in your bloodstream to gather around and kill invading organisms is decreased. As a result, your resistance to infections caused by fungi, certain viruses, and the organisms that cause tuberculosis is impaired. It is possible to have both general types of immunodeficiency at the same time.
There are many types of inherited defects of the immune system. If you are born with one of these you are susceptible to certain types of infections. Many diseases also impair the functioning of the immune system. These diseases include the leukemias the lymphomas cancer in general, diabetes mellitus and uremia.
Finally, some drugs that are used to treat many disorders, especially steroids, and cytotoxic (anticancer) drugs, and also radiation therapy, can significantly affect your immune system.
What is the Treatment?
If you have an inherited deficiency of antibody production, injections of antibodies collected from other persons may be helpful. This treatment must be repeated every few weeks. If you have certain types of inherited deficiencies of lymphocytes, transplantation of tissue from the thymus, a small gland in the neck, offers some hope. This still highly experimental treatment is based on the thymus gland's influence on certain lymphocytes. Another possible treatment is long-term antibiotic therapy. For most people with an immunodeficiency, however, there is no specific treatment, and you must be careful to avoid infection and be sure to get immediate treatment if you do become ill.