PRIMARY IMMUNODEFICIENCY DISEASES IN LATIN-AMERICA - FIRST REPORT FROM 8 COUNTRIES PARTICIPATING IN THE LAGID

The Latin American Group for Primary Immunodeficiencies, formed in 199 3, presently includes 12 countries. One goal was to study the frequenc y of primary immunodeficiencies in various regions of the American con tinent and to enhance knowledge about these diseases among primary-car e physicians, as well as allergist-immunologists. Important for this p urpose was the development of a registry of primary immunodeficiencies using a uniform questionnaire and computerized database. To date, eig ht countries have collected information on a total of 1428 patients. P redominantly antibody deficiencies were reported in 58% of patients, f ollowed by cellular and antibody immunodeficiencies associated with ot her abnormalities in 18%, immunodeficiency syndromes associated with g ranulocyte dysfunction in 8%, phagocytic disorders in 9%, combined cel lular and antibody immunodeficiencies in 5%, and complement deficienci es in 2% of patients. The information gathered from this initial analy sis of data will serve to expand the patient database to more areas wi thin participating countries and to new countries and to increase coll aboration toward better diagnosis and treatment of these diseases.