Immune System Disorders - Immune Deficiency

Disorders related to defective immunity can be classified as follows:

1) Inadequate response to exposure to foreign antigen (congenital immunodeficiency).

2) An excessive or inappropriate immune response in response to foreign antigen (allergy).

3) The loss of the capacity to distinguish self from non-self (autoimmunity).

4) Cancer of the immune cells.

In this post we will deal with #1 above.

PRIMARY IMMUNE DEFICIENCY is a condition that results if one or more essential components of the immune system fails or is missing due to a congenital genetic defect.

Some examples of primary immune deficiency diseases include:

Reticular dysgenesis

Severe combined immune deficiency disease

Ataxia Telangiectasia

Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome

DiGeorge Syndrome (affects primarily T cell function)

Bruton's congenital agammaglobulinemia (affects B cell function)

X-linked Hyper-IgM Syndrome

SECONDARY IMMUNE DEFICIENCY

Secondary immune deficiencies occur when damage is caused by an environmental factor.

Neoplastic disorder

Malnutrition

Iatrogenic

Infection