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Information about Immune Deficiency

Immunodeficiency
Classification & external resources
ICD-10D84.9
ICD-9279.3
DiseasesDB21506
MeSHD007153
In medicine, immunodeficiency (or immune deficiency) is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious disease is compromised or entirely absent. Most cases of immunodeficiency are either congenital or acquired. A person who has an immunodeficiency is said to be immunocompromised. An immunocompromised person is very vulnerable to opportunistic infections. Boys more often than girls can have immune deficiency. Mostly immune deficiency is recognized in the early ages unless it is an acquired immune deficiency.

Congenital (or Primary) immune deficiency

A number of rare diseases feature a heightened susceptibility to infections from childhood onward. Many of these disorders are hereditary and autosomal recessive.
For more details on this topic, see Primary immunodeficiency.


The following is a list of the congenital immunodeficiencies organized by the immune component that is impaired or missing.

Acquired immune deficiency

Although elderly people are generally more susceptible to infections, this can be increased in the presence of a number of blood disorders (see hematology); important examples are multiple myeloma and chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL).

Immune suppression is a common side-effect of many drugs, most importantly chemotherapy. However, Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are used to suppress immune activity in autoimmune disorders to slow progression of this type of disease. Any drug that causes neutropenia or agranulocytosis can cause immune suppression and sepsis. Organ transplant recipients are given immunosuppressive drugs to avoid transplant rejection.

Immune deficiency is also the hallmark of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), caused by a virus, Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV destroys CD4+-T-lymphocytes (Helper T cells), which play a critical role in modulating immune response, and the loss of these immune cells leads eventually to immunocompromise and opportunistic infections.

Biochemistry

In all higher mammals a complex set of biochemicals is present that regulates the immune system. Imbalances of these chemicals by nutritional deficit, disease or infection can compromise the immune system.

 •  • [ e]
Immune system / Immunology
SystemsAdaptive immune system vs. Innate immune system • Humoral immune system vs. Cellular immune system • Complement system (Anaphylatoxins)
Antibodies and antigensAntibody (Monoclonal antibodies, Polyclonal antibodies, Autoantibody) • Allotype • Isotype • Idiotype • Antigen (Superantigen)
Immune cellsWhite blood cells (T cell, B cell, NK cell, Mast cell, Basophil, Eosinophil) • Phagocyte (Neutrophil, Macrophage, Dendritic cell) • Antigen-presenting cell • Reticuloendothelial system
Immunity vs. toleranceImmunity • Autoimmunity • Allergy • Tolerance (Central) • Immunodeficiency
ImmunogeneticsSomatic hypermutation • V(D)J recombination • Immunoglobulin class switching • MHC / HLA
OtherCytokines • Inflammation • Opsonin
For other uses of "ICD", see ICD (disambiguation).


The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD
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List of ICD-10 codes. The version for 2007 is available online at [1]

Chapter Blocks Title
I Certain infectious and parasitic diseases
II Neoplasms
III Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism
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For other uses of "ICD", see ICD (disambiguation).


The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD
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The following is a list of codes for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. These codes are in the public domain.

See also


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The Diseases Database is a free website that provides information about the relationships between medical conditions, symptoms, and medications.

It directly integrates the Unified Medical Language System.

External links

  • Diseases Database

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Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a huge controlled vocabulary (or metadata system) for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. Created and updated by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), it is used by the MEDLINE/PubMed
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Medicine is the science and "" of maintaining and/or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients. The term is derived from the Latin ars medicina meaning the art of healing.
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immune system is a collection of mechanisms within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own healthy
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infectious disease is a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions.
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A congenital disorder is any medical condition that is present at birth. However, a congenital disorder can be recognized before birth (prenatally), at birth, years later, or never. The term congenital does not imply or exclude a genetic cause.
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Opportunistic infections are infections caused by organisms that usually do not cause disease in a person with a healthy immune system, but can affect people with a poorly functioning or suppressed immune system. They need an "opportunity" to infect a person.
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A rare disease (sometimes known as an orphan disease) has such a low prevalence in a population that a doctor in a busy general practice would not expect to see more than one case a year.
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An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host's resources to multiply (usually at the expense of the host).
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A genetic disorder is a condition caused by abnormalities in genes or chromosomes. While some diseases, such as cancer, are due to genetic abnormalities acquired in a few cells during life, the term "genetic disease" most commonly refers to diseases present in all cells of the body
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Primary immunodeficiencies are disorders in which part of the body's immune system is missing or does not function properly. To be considered a primary immunodeficiency, the cause of the immune deficiency must not be secondary in nature (i.e.
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In anatomy, the G cell is a type of cell in the stomach that secretes gastrin.[1] It works in conjunction with gastric chief cells and parietal cells.

G cells are found deep with the gastric glands of the stomach antrum, and occasionally in the pancreas.
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X-linked agammaglobulinemia (also called X-linked hypogammaglobulinemia, XLA, Bruton type agammaglobulinemia) is a rare X-linked genetic disorder that affects the body's ability to fight infection (origin of the name: A=no, gammaglobulin=Antibody).
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Selective immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiency is a relatively mild genetic immunodeficiency. People with this deficiency lack immunoglobulin A (IgA), a type of antibody that protects against infections of the mucous membranes lining the mouth, airways, and digestive tract.
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T cells belong to a group of white blood cells known as lymphocytes and play a central role in cell-mediated immunity. They can be distinguished from other lymphocyte types, such as B cells and NK cells by the presence of a special receptor on their cell surface that is called the
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MeSH D004062 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, Velocardiofacial Syndrome, Di George Syndrome, Strong Syndrome is a disorder caused by the deletion of a small piece of chromosome 22. The deletion occurs near the middle of the chromosome at a location designated q11.2.
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MeSH D004062 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, Velocardiofacial Syndrome, Di George Syndrome, Strong Syndrome is a disorder caused by the deletion of a small piece of chromosome 22. The deletion occurs near the middle of the chromosome at a location designated q11.2.
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Hyper IgM syndrome is a family of genetic disorders in which the level of Immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies is relatively high. The disorder causes immunodeficiencies, including a higher than normal susceptibility to various types of infections.
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MeSH D016511 Severe combined immunodeficiency, or SCID, is a genetic disorder in which both "arms" (B cells and T cells) of the adaptive immune system are crippled, due to a defect in one of several possible genes. SCID is a severe form of heritable immunodeficiency.
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MeSH D014923 Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is a rare X-linked recessive disease characterized by eczema, thrombocytopenia (low platelet counts), immune deficiency, and bloody diarrhea (due to the low platelet counts).
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This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.
Please help recruit one or [ improve this article] yourself. See the talk page for details.
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complement of X is something that together with X makes a complete whole, something that supplies what X lacks.

Complement may refer to:

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MeSH D000799

Angioedema (BE: angiooedema), also known by its eponym Quincke's edema, is the rapid swelling (edema) of the skin, mucosa and submucosal tissues.
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MeSH D000799

Angioedema (BE: angiooedema), also known by its eponym Quincke's edema, is the rapid swelling (edema) of the skin, mucosa and submucosal tissues.
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MeSH D006457 Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare, acquired, potentially life-threatening disease of the blood characterised by hemolytic anemia, thrombosis and red urine due to breakdown of red blood cells.
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A phagocyte is a cell that ingests and destroys foreign matter such as microorganisms or debris by a process known as phagocytosis.

Types of Phagocytes

There are three main categories of phagocytes: [1]
  • macrophages (and monocytes)

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