Agammaglobulinemia Associated with Pernicious Anemia and Diabetes Mellitus

Agammaglobulinemia, or hypogammaglobulinemia, as it is now being referred to by some authors, was first described as a clinical entity in 1952.1Since that time there have been a number of excellent papers on this subject,2-4but the total number of reported cases is still relatively small. It is not the purpose of this paper to review this subject of agammaglobulinemia, but rather to present a case in which agammaglobulinemia, pernicious anemia, and diabetes mellitus are present. Abnormalities of the hemopoietic system are not infrequently seen associated with agammaglobulinemia,4-6but this appears to be the first case associated with pernicious anemia. There appears to be one previously reported case associated with diabetes mellitus.7 Agammaglobulinemia is a disease in which γ-globulin is absent or diminished in the serum, with the result that the person so afflicted has little or no resistance to diseases normally combated by immune