Further Observations on the Swiss Type of Agammaglobulinemia (Alymphocytosis)

A SEVERE, lethal form of agammaglobulinemia associated with alymphocytosis and aplasia of the thymus gland has been described in western Europe,1 2 3 4 Great Britain5 and the United States.6 7 8 Because investigators in Switzerland1 2 3 were the first to recognize and define this syndrome it is often called the Swiss type of agammaglobulinemia. Afflicted infants fail to thrive, and intractable diarrhea, generalized moniliasis and recurrent pulmonary infection develop. Gamma-globulin therapy is of no avail in preventing death from infection, which occurs by the end of the second year of life. A few attempts to restore immunologic competence and to populate the lymphoid tissue by . . .