Case Studies in Immunology: Case 5
X-Linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency
We have already discussed the risks associated with giving live poliovirus vaccine to immunodeficient infants in the case of X-liked agammaglobulinemia. Martin received a killed (inactive) polio vaccine. Had he received a live unattended polio vaccine instead, he could have developed poliomyelitis. Fortunately, Martin escaped being given any live vaccines before he was diagnosed. In many countries (but not the United States) infants are universally given Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), an attenuated form of the tuberculosis bacillus, which provides partial protection against tuberculosis infection. BCG incites a cell-mediated immune response and after receiving it infants become tuberculin-positive, which means they show a delayed-type hypersensitivity response to a skin-prick with minute quantities of tuberculin. In the United States, the tuberculin test is considered so diagnostically valuable for the detection of new tuberculosis infections that BCG is not given. What do you think happens to infants with SCID who are given BCG?
Case Studies in Immunology: Case 5
X-Linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency
We have already discussed the risks associated with giving live poliovirus vaccine to immunodeficient infants in the case of X-liked agammaglobulinemia. Martin received a killed (inactive) polio vaccine. Had he received a live unattended polio vaccine instead, he could have developed poliomyelitis. Fortunately, Martin escaped being given any live vaccines before he was diagnosed. In many countries (but not the United States) infants are universally given Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), an attenuated form of the tuberculosis bacillus, which provides partial protection against tuberculosis infection. BCG incites a cell-mediated immune response and after receiving it infants become tuberculin-positive, which means they show a delayed-type hypersensitivity response to a skin-prick with minute quantities of tuberculin. In the United States, the tuberculin test is considered so diagnostically valuable for the detection of new tuberculosis infections that BCG is not given. What do you think happens to infants with SCID who are given BCG?