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Primary immunodeficiency presenting with gastrointestinal disease in the tropics
Author(s) -
ROSS I. N.,
MATHAN V. I.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1746.1987.tb00198.x
Subject(s) - medicine , malabsorption , giardia lamblia , immunology , rotavirus , pathogenesis , immunodeficiency , gastroenterology , lymphoid hyperplasia , primary immunodeficiency , immunopathology , diarrhea , disease , giardia , antibody , pathology , immune system , lymphoma , veterinary medicine
Thirteen patients with hypogammaglobulinaemia were detected in a group of 1300 patients with chronic diarrhoea and malabsorption. Panhypogammaglobulinaemia was present in ten, selective IgA deficiency in two and in one deficiency of IgA and IgM. Functional antibodies were decreased but still detectable. Nodular lymphoid hyperplasia was present in jejunal mucosal biopsies in five and plasma cells were reduced or undetectable in eight. Epithelial lymphocytes were increased. There were only mild abnormalities in in vitro lymphocyte function. While the prevalence of Giardia lamblia was high in the immunodeficient subjects, the prevalence of other gastrointestinal parasites, pathogenic bacteria, or rotavirus, was not high. The pathogenesis of malabsorption in these patients was not clear. Overall morbidity in these immunodeficient patients was similar to that in reports from temperate countries, in spite of their living in an environment with a high prevalence of pathogens.