Can immunogram be wrong?

How the immune system works

Immunity is a fortress that protects against infections. Its components remove foreign and toxic substances, maintain the genetic constancy of the body. Immunity is either innate or acquired.

Congenital has developed over many years of evolution and is the same for everyone. Skin, mucous membranes, bile, gastric juice, the secret of the airways, the enzyme lysozyme – these are the walls of the fortress that do not allow enemies to break through. The defenders of the fortress are neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, macrophages. They calculate foreign agents, catch up and digest them on the spot – they perform phagocytosis.

Adaptive or Acquired Immunity – Elite Troops. They learn to fight back from birth, each encounter with a new pathogen is a training camp where defenders improve their skills. The first detachment is cellular or T-lymphocytes. They regulate the immune response, send signals to train cells against a given threat, and suppress overreactions. The second group – humoral immunity or B-lymphocytes, receives signals from T-lymphocytes and creates immunoglobulins. These are antibodies that bind to microbes or virus-damaged cells and neutralize harmful agents. The battlefield is cleared by “cleaners” – macrophages and T-suppressive cells.

In 1973, David Vetter was born in the United States – a boy with congenital severe combined immunodeficiency. He had no T-lymphocytes, and B-lymphocytes did not see the threat. Most of these children die in the first two years of life, and David lived in a sterile box and waited for scientists to invent a cure for him. Air, water, food, toys – everything went through repeated disinfection. Parents could touch their son only through gloves held in the wall of the bladder, so as not to infect him with infections. Any bacteria that accidentally entered the cocoon would be a death sentence. Scientists from NASA have created a spacesuit for walking, so that David does not lose the chance to fully communicate with peers, make friends and enjoy life.

Scientists transplanted bone marrow taken from his sister to David, but he did not get better. An acute Epstein-Barr infection developed, the boy had to be urgently removed from the shelter to the intensive care unit. Without a protective bubble, David lived in the open world for about 15 days and died from infections and Burkitt’s lymphoma.

Most people do not have serious problems with the immune system, but sometimes it fails. Then some doctors offer to take an immunogram. And why – they do not really say: “to check.”

“An analysis of the immune status is almost always imposed by laboratories, doctors or surrendered out of ignorance. Often it is taken by healthy people who do not need it, – says Olga Sidorovich, an allergist-immunologist at GMS Clinic . “Many labs advertise the expanded immunogram as a comprehensive examination. And whether it is really needed – only a specialist decides.

Why take the test

Doctors and clinics have two arguments. The first is to assess the state of the body as a whole and its readiness to cope with infections. The second is for a comprehensive examination with frequent colds, prevention of the development of allergic and autoimmune diseases in the future. Both reasons are wrong.

Immunogram is often prescribed to sick children to identify immunodeficiency. On average, a child gets sick four to eight times a year, and if there are several in the family or the child goes to kindergarten, the number of colds reaches 10-12. It is not worth panicking and running to take an immunogram: their immune system is learning to fight germs, and the defenders – the components of the immune system are training for future victories. How to help the immune system defeat SARS, we have already told.

Another common cause is allergies. About 30% of children who are mistakenly treated for a cold are actually allergic. The child rubs his eyes, he develops a cough, wheezing in the lungs, which is similar to acute bronchitis and pneumonia. Parents begin to treat him, buy solutions for rinsing and antibiotics, but there is no effect from the treatment. The thought creeps in: something is wrong with the child, you need to check his immune system so as not to miss something terrible. For the sake of their children, parents do not spare money and pay for any whims of laboratories: they take extended immunograms and pay extra for decoding. This does not make the child any better – he does not receive treatment for allergies – he continues to suffer.

Allergy marker – high IgE does not yet mean that a person has an allergy. Sometimes a person has elevated IgE, but he does not have a reaction to allergens. It is known that 25% to 60% of those examined had elevated IgE, but they did not observe allergy symptoms. Conversely, specific IgE may not be detected in an allergen-reactive patient.

Another reason why children suffer from frequent diseases is developmental disorders from birth: cystic fibrosis, heart defects, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, swallowing disorders. In cystic fibrosis, mucus thickens, is not excreted from the bronchi, and does not protect the airways from foreign particles. An infection joins – the child suffers from frequent bronchitis and pneumonia. Due to GERD, the contents of the stomach constantly enter the larynx, trachea, irritate the mucous membrane, violate its barrier properties, which leads to infection getting there – hello cold. The main thing here is to treat the underlying disease and problems with “immunity” will end.

One child out of 10,000 suffers from congenital immunodeficiencies. Such children often lag behind in physical and mental development, lose weight, and become seriously ill. They develop abscesses of the skin and mucous membranes, non-healing wounds. Doctors prescribe antibiotics, but often with no effect or little improvement.