Serum selenium in acute infections

We measured the serum selenium concentration in 64 patients with uncomplicated viral (n = 33) or bacterial (n = 31) infections during the acute state of infection, during the early convalescent phase and after a minimum recovery period of three weeks and compared it to serum iron values. Both selenium (mean +/- SEM: 70.3 +/- 2.3 micrograms/l vs 79.4 +/- 2.2 micrograms/l, p less than 0.0001) and iron (8.4 +/- 0.8 micrograms vs 16.7 +/- 0.9 micrograms/l, p less than 0.0001) concentrations showed significant depressions in the acute stage of infection compared with the values after the recovery. The reduction of serum selenium did not correlate with the severity of infection measured by fever. We conclude that acute infections decrease serum levels regardless of the infective agent. The changes are of interest because of the possible connection between selenium and the immune system.