RT Book, Section
A1 Chatila, Talal A.
A2 Rudolph, Colin D.
A2 Rudolph, Abraham M.
A2 Lister, George E.
A2 First, Lewis R.
A2 Gershon, Anne A.
SR Print(0)
ID 7018253
T1 Chapter 187. Undue Susceptibility to Infection
T2 Rudolph's Pediatrics, 22e
YR 2011
FD 2011
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-149723-7
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=7018253
RD 2024/04/24
AB Each  year,  a  large  number  of  children  are  evaluated  by  their  primary  care  physicians  for  recurrent  infections,  an  especially  common  event  in  early  childhood.1  The  overwhelming  majority  of  such  cases  are  benign,  and  an  extrinsic  cause  of  recurrent  infection  is  identified.  Examples  of  extrinsic  causes  include  heightened  exposure  to  pathogens  in  a  daycare  setting,  carriage  of  a  pathogenic  organism  such  as  Staphylococcus  aureus  in  the  context  of  recurrent  infection  with  this  organism,  or  recurrent  upper  respiratory  tract  infections  in  the  context  of  parental  smoking.  However,  concern  about  an  intrinsic  pathologic  underpinning  is  heightened  on  the  basis  of  frequency  of  infections,  their  severity,  and  the  nature  of  the  offending  organism.  The  coexistence  of  multisystem  disease,  autoimmunity,  or  lymphoreticular  malignancy  should  also  prompt  evaluation  for  immunodeficiency.  A  family  history  of  recurrent  infections  raises  the  index  of  suspicion.