Some children seem to catch infection after infection. Others may have symptoms that are harder to connect, such as inflammation, blood count changes, severe allergies, or autoimmune concerns. These can sometimes be signs of an inborn error of immunity.
WMCHealth provides multidisciplinary care for children with suspected or confirmed inborn errors of immunity. If your child has complex immune, blood, or inflammatory symptoms, our team can help you understand what may be happening and what care may be needed.
What Are Inborn Errors of Immunity?
Inborn errors of immunity are inherited conditions that affect how the immune system protects and regulates the body. Some children have immune systems that do not fight infections well. Others have immune systems that become overactive or attack the body by mistake.
Primary immunodeficiencies are one important type of inborn error of immunity. These conditions often involve recurrent, severe, or unusual infections.
However, inborn errors of immunity can also cause immune dysregulation. This means the immune system may contribute to inflammation, autoimmune disease, blood count problems, severe allergies, bone marrow failure, or other complex symptoms.
Diagnosing Inborn Errors of Immunity
Diagnosing inborn errors of immunity can be challenging because symptoms often overlap with more common childhood conditions. Our specialized testing and immune-system expertise can help identify whether your child’s symptoms are connected to an inherited immune disorder.
Your child’s evaluation may include:
- A detailed medical history
- Family history review
- Blood tests
- Immune system testing
- Genetic testing
- Functional studies of immune cells and pathways
Your child’s evaluation is not only about naming a condition. It is also about understanding what part of the immune system is not working as expected. This helps your child’s care team recommend treatment based on their specific needs.
Treatment for Inborn Errors of Immunity
Treatment for inborn errors of immunity is highly individualized. Your child’s care plan will depend on their diagnosis, symptoms, immune function, and overall health. Some children need monitoring and infection prevention, while others need therapies that help regulate or replace parts of the immune system.
Treatment options may include:
- Immunotherapy
- Infection treatment
- Vaccination assessment
- Antimicrobial prophylaxis
- Targeted biologic therapy
- Immune-modulating therapy
- Disease-specific medications
- Immunoglobulin replacement
- Bone marrow transplantation evaluation
- Cellular or gene-based therapy evaluation
For some children, treatment focuses on reducing infections. For others, care may focus on inflammation, autoimmune complications, blood count problems, or long-term immune regulation.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach, and your child’s care team will tailor treatment to their specific needs.
Our Team-Based Approach to Inborn Errors of Immunity
When your child has symptoms that involve the immune system, blood, inflammation, or other body systems, it can be difficult to know where to start. WMCHealth’s Inborn Errors of Immunity Clinic brings the right specialists together to review your child’s health from multiple angles.
Your child’s care team may include experts in immune hematology, clinical immunology, infectious diseases, bone marrow transplantation, and cellular therapy. We also collaborate with rheumatology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, genetics, pulmonology, and other specialists when needed.
This team-based approach helps connect your child’s testing, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term follow-up. It also helps your family receive coordinated care for complex immune, blood, inflammatory, and genetic conditions.