SCID takes many forms; infection common

Abstract

ABSTRACT Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), the most severe of the 30 to 40 primary immunodeficiency is really number of diseases, says Michael Blaese, MD.Blaese, who is a clinical pediatric immunologist and chief of the Cellular Immunology Section of the Metabolism Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md, points out that there are at least a half dozen to a dozen different forms of SCID.One reason is that SCID can arise sporadically as well as genetically from two different inheritance patterns: X-linked recessive (as with Houston's David) or autosomal recessive (appearing with or without a deficiency in adenosine deaminase). forms are more common than others; a deficiency in adenosine deaminase, for example, occurs in only about 15% of SCID cases.Even within SCID, there are different kinds of problems, Blaese said in an interview with JAMA MEDICAL NEWS. Some people make abnormal enzymes, some of them lack the