Diagnosis IgA deficiency is usually first suspected because of either chronic or severe recurrent infections, allergies, autoimmune diseases, or chronic diarrhea. If your doctors suspect IgA deficiency, they will probably schedule a complete blood count and immunoglobulins levels. Other tests may be indicated if autoimmune disease is suspected. Even if it were available, there is no way that IgA administered by infusion into the vein can find its way to the mucous membranes where it is needed. The occasional patient who also has an IG2 subclass deficiency can sometimes diminish the frequency of infections with gamma globulin.
Doctors treat the illness associated with IgA deficiency instead of the condition itself.
If you have a chronic or recurrent infections, antibiotics are the treatment of choice. You may need long-term therapy with antibiotics if you have chronic sinusitis or chronic bronchitis. Doctors use several therapies to treat autoimmune diseases, often prescribing anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin or Ibuprofen for joint inflammation and steroids for auto immune diseases that involve the blood system. If an auto immune disease has caused an abnormality in your endocrine system, your doctor may prescribe replacement hormones. Physicians treat allergies associated with IgA deficiency with the same treatments they use for allergies in general, although they may have to pursue them more aggressively.