Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] I have a 7month old baby boy, who has had a cough and and continuous, chest infection, he has had antibiotix twice which has not cleared it, he had a chest xray and has a consequential shadow on hes lungs?? Can u tell me if this is a asthma condition or something else? Also he has always had very loose and smelly stools and i have read that this could be signs of cystic fibrious? many thanks.
[|AI|]  Hi, A 7-month old baby boy with recurrent chest infections and possible non-resolving gastroenteritis requires exclusion of an immunodeficiency disorder. I do not know of your families origin (i.e., Caucasian or Asian etc.) but this is really of no consequence. Shadow on Chest X-ray is usually against asthma and infection-induced asthma is more likely. Sputum or blood culture reports would have been helpful as recurrent bacterial infections would suggest an antibody deficiency. A full blood count (most importantly white cell count) is important and low lymphocyte counts would suggest an immune deficiency disorder. An unresolved infection also requires exclusion. Any child with polyps in the nose has a high likelihood of cystic fibrosis but of course that also needs excluding in your boy (sweat test followed by CFTR genetics). I would strongly suggest asking your doctor to get serum immunoglobulins (Egg, IGA, IGM), specific antibody levels (His, tetanus, pneumococcal) and lymphocyte subsets (CD4/8/19/56) are the most important initial investigations to exclude an immune deficiency. Please let me know if I can be of any more help. Best Wishes.