A link between parotid salivary Ig level and recurrent respiratory infections in young Down's syndrome patients

Unusual Detection of Tuberculosis in a Woman with Down's SyndromeA woman with Down's syndrome (DS) had sub-febrile temperature, nodular/patchy shadows on the chest X-ray over the right pulmonary base, and a history of recurrent respiratory infections. She was pale, asthenic, uncommunicative, mildly anemic and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 80/first hour. The tuberculin skin test (TST) PPD3 was negative. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated from oral mucosal brushing, sensitive to the first line anti-tuberculosis drugs. Patients with DS and other mental disabilities need special care and attention during diagnostic procedures for tuberculosis (TB).

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Thymic Deficiency in Down's Syndrome

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.63.1.80 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 63 (1) ◽

pp. 80-87

Author(s):

Stanley Levin ◽

Menahem Schlesinger ◽

Zaev Handzel ◽

Thalia Hahn ◽

Yehudit Altman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

T Cells ◽

Respiratory Infections ◽

Down's Syndrome ◽

Down’S Syndrome ◽

Thymic Involution ◽

Lymphocyte Depletion ◽

Functional Deficiency

Children with Down's syndrome (DS) often have small and abnormal thymuses, with lymphocyte depletion, diminution of the cortex, and loss of corticomedullary demarcation—a picture resembling thymic involution. Besides this, they have markedly enlarged Hassall's corpuscles, some surrounded by a sheath of lymphocytes. Patients with DS are known to have increased numbers of respiratory infections; they also have a higher incidence of lymphaic leukemia than do individuals who do not have DS. Studies of cell-mediated (thymic-dependent) immunity demonstrate that children with DS have both diminished numbers of T cells as well as functional deficiency of these cells.

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T System Immune-Deficiency in Down's Syndrome

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.56.1.123 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 56 (1) ◽

pp. 123-126

Author(s):

Stanley Levin ◽

Erga Nir ◽

Benjamin M. Mogilner

Keyword(s):

Immune Deficiency ◽

Respiratory Tract ◽

Clinical Observation ◽

Respiratory Infections ◽

Normal Population ◽

Down's Syndrome ◽

Down’S Syndrome ◽

Fold Increase ◽

Clinicopathological Study ◽

T System

Children with Down's syndrome (mongolism) are known to suffer frequent infections, particularly of the respiratory tract. This clinical observation has been confirmed in an epidemiological study in Denmark showing a 50-fold increased incidence of infectious diseases and a 123-fold increase of respiratory infections in mongols as compared to the normal population. In a clinicopathological study of all infants dying in our hospital over a period of ten years, we were impressed by the finding that all 13 cases of mongolism coming to autopsy showed marked lymphocyte depletion of thymus and lymph nodes.

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