Timely medical interventions and key nutrients are the key to tackle rising cases of immunodeficiency in kids, said health experts. In India, due to air pollution, unhygienic conditions, sedentary life style and genetic disorders immunodeficiency has touched an alarming situation.
For the past 10 years, Nitin Sehrawat is prone to severe infections and was at times down with fever, cough-cold and other diseases, said a patient's relative.
Immunodeficiency is a disease that leaves the immune system compromised, exposing to everyday germs and bacteria is increased exponentially and can be fatal.
According to Union Ministry of Health and Family welfare (MoH&FW), four out of 10 Indian children don't receive full immunisation during infancy thus making them vulnerable to immunodeficiency. "Patients who have immunodeficiency have infections that usually do not go away without using antibiotics and often recur within one or two weeks after antibiotic treatment is completed. These patients frequently need many courses of antibiotics each year to stay healthy. There are several forms of immunodeficiency and while some are very severe and life-threatening, many are milder but still important enough to cause recurrent or severe infections," said, Dr Vivek Jain, Additional Director and Head of Neonatology, Apollo Hospital
Children who get frequent infections, such as ear infections, sinusitis or pneumonia, may have a more severe condition called immunodeficiency, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI).To check this deadly disease, doctors have suggested that India needs to be careful and should also emphasise on newborn screening.
"There have been dramatic medical advances in the last 40 years. Timely and adequate attention with proper treatment and following RDA of key nutrients, the disease can be rectifed. With these interventions a kid like Nitin can have a good shot at living a long, healthy, normal life," said Dr Avneet Kaur, Consultant Neonatology at Apollo Cradle Hospital
"It is recurrence of infections that indicate an immune deficiency. The difference is that their infections occur more frequently, and are often more severe, and therefore have risks of severe complications," said Dr Kaur.