[Acquired agammaglobulinaemia: clinical and immunological aspects (author's transl)]

Chronic recurrent bacterial infections, especially sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia, frequently taking a fulminating course, were the characteristic leading clinical symptoms of acquired agammaglobulinaemia in three women. This abnormally increased susceptibility to infection had previously caused numerous hospitalisations, operations and punctures as well as high-dosage antibiotic treatments. Analysis for immunological defects provided evidence of a lymphocyte-inherent defect in two patients, while in the third there was an abnormally increased suppressor-cell activity as a cause for the humoral immunodefect. Gammaglobulin substitution was tried in all three patients, but in one it had to be discontinued because of severe intolerance to homologous serum proteins. In the other two a high dosage substitution regimen, undertaken at 14-day intervals, has resulted in almost complete normalisation of antibacterial defences and of the clinical state.