Diagnosis SCID is diagnosed by the typing of T and B cells in the child's blood. Treatment Patients with SCID can be treated with antibiotics and immune serum to protect them from infections, but these treatments cannot cure the disorder. Children who receive weekly injections of PEG-ADA appear to have normal immune functions restored. Another treatment that is still in the experimental stage is gene therapy . In gene therapy, the children receive periodic infusions of their own T cells corrected with a gene for ADA that has been implanted in an activated virus.
Most untreated patients die before age two.
Children with an ADA deficiency have low levels of both B and T cells. Antigens A substance that usually causes the formation of an antibody. A foreign invaders in the body. A pattern of inheritance of a recessive gene where, among other things, both parents may not show symptoms. A type of lymphocyte or white blood cell that is derived from precursor cells in the bone marrow.