Immunity-why is this happening to my son?

Thank you, Hope, Crystal, Onions and Scorpion - for your intelligent and informed replies.

My feeling is that his immune system is subject to bacterial infections following several viruses because his immune defence is low. In one way this is nothing unusual - my older son always got ear infections when he had a cold. What is a bit different, is that these are serious and unusual infections - the last one being life threatening.

Onions - I think I will take your advice, thank you.

The SEN at my son's school wondered if there was a link between autism and immunity. It would appear not, but there does seem to be a pre-disposition on my partner's side [he also has ASC].

Rosemary xx

You tend to see 'clusters' within almost any genetic conditions, this is because there is rarely "a gene" for a given disease, condition, or predisposition, rather, complex groups of genes code for combinations of amino-acids, which themselves code for complex combinations of proteins which then go on to cause various diseases, conditions, and predispositions, depending on the precise details of those genes, amino-acids, and proteins.

I agree with Crystal12, a trip to the GP could be a good start. Whilst the specialist immunological tests would be outside the scope of general practice, they can make the referral. This is assuming your general paediatrician hasn't already sought the advice from a paediatric infectious disease / immunologist and run further tests to establish that is was just 'bad luck' and nothing else.

A way of establishing this, and in my opinion the best way forward, it is to write a simple letter to your GP and paediatrican saying that although you've been told that your little boy has been unlucky to have 2 very rare and serious infections in the last 3 years you are still concerned that there may be some connection. Ask them to clarify why they are confident that this was due to chance and there is not an immunological explanation.

All said very nicely but you will get a flurry of activity as a response I can almost guarantee it. This is a perfectly reasonable letter to write, you are a mother seeking further clarification/reassurance. Perfectly understandable but it will make them stop and consider if they have looked at everything. You are right to worry about this, 2 serious rare infections should raise people's eyebrows. The chance of a rare connection between the two is rare.... but probably about as rare as getting 2 nasty infections with no connection! Why is the paediatrician so sure that it is the latter explanation!

You will either get further tests done or some decent reassurance to stop you worrying. Either way a win win!

hi - can understand you being worried - you've had 2 nasty shocks.  Whether he was below par + the serious illnesses were able to take a hold is a possibility.  A blood test can show whether someone's immune system is up to strength, so maybe that might be a starting point.  It can be done at your GP's surgery.  There a many immune diseases but I'm not sure if any of them have actually been proven to be allied to autism in some way, altho research goes on.   Building up his immune system is a good 1st step forward because all the little ones regularly pick up bugs.

Sorry rosemary, just need to clarify, you should seek the second opinion on whether there is a medical reason as to why he's had 2 nasty rare bugs. I think this is a seperate issue as to whether it is linked to the autism.

You should ask for a second opinion from a paediatric infectious disease / immunologist specialist. Probably based at a tertiary centre (your specialist children's hospital). You can request this via the gp or paediatrician. Well worth doing in my opinion.

Hi Hope,

Thanks for your reply.

He seems to be prone to picking up viruses. He had 5 since the 2nd wk of Dec. and I think this is what allowed the meninococcyl bacteria to gain an upper hand. It apparently lives harmlessly in the respiratory tract of 10% of the population, but can be activated if the immune system is compromised. A similar thing happened with the Discitis.

There does seem to be a genetic predisposition in his Dad's family, to be honest. Also, I have read in the BMJ that autism goes hand in hand with other genetic disorders so that you can end up with a cluster.

Are you able to recall where you saw the gene cross-over post?

Thanks again for your post. I am scared that I will lose my precious little boy to a nasty bug

Rosemary xx

Is he prone to infections, particularly bacterial ones, in general? It is the case that most people can fight bacteria before they proliferate and possibly enter the blood-stream, but for various reasons some people come down with life-threatening diseases. Perhaps there is a genetic explanation for this, but I think it depends on the individual. Autism is a brain condition, not an immune based one, but I think someone else on this site mentioned the possibility that some people might have gene cross-overs, whereby two genetic conditions are combined.