Briefly explain why children born with SCID often do not experience infection fo

Symptoms in SCID: Untreated, essentially all infants with SCID will contract life-threatening infections including bacterial, fungal and viral. When the immune system does not function correctly, the child is left open to repeated severe diseases and infections. As a result, the child's body is unable to fight off infections. Genetic counseling is recommended for parents of a child with SCID who are considering having more children and for potential parents who have a family history of the disease and believe they may be carriers.

GENETICS: This is an autosomal recessive disorder, perhaps more than one. Lymphocytes, a type of white cell in the blood, are greatly reduced in number.

Symptoms of SCID usually become apparent within the first year. All transplants done in the first three months of life have the highest success rate.

Some of the most promising developments in the search for new therapies for SCID center on "SCID mice", which can be bred deficient in various genes including ADA, JAK3, and IL2RG. Because children with SCID experience multiple infections, they fail to grow and gain weight as expected (i.e., failure to thrive).

Doctors and researchers from the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street hospital yesterday published research papers describing the long-term outcomes of gene therapy for children born with SCID.