Nurses can play a crucial role in the recognition of primary immune deficiency

Abstract

Primary immunodeficiency diseases are disorders of immunological functioning leading to infections that are too frequent, too severe, and too resistant to treatment. Also, other manifestations such as unusual forms of autoimmunity and lymphoproliferation may be present. Timely recognition of these diseases is important for the patient’s prognosis, and for genetic counselling of the family. Nurses can play a crucial role in the timely recognition of patients with these disorders. In this paper, the potential for recognition of primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs) s by nurses is discussed, and some examples of PID such as common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) and severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) are presented.