The case involved a 39-year-old who had recurrent infections, bronchiectasis, and meningitis. CVID has since emerged as the predominant class of primary antibody deficiencies. It is thought to affect between 1 in 25,000 to 1 in 50,000 people worldwide. Though described in 1953, there was no standard definition for CVID until the 1990s, which caused widespread confusion during diagnosis. During the 1990s, the European Society for Immunodeficiency (ESID) and Pan-American Group for Immunodeficiency (PAGID) developed diagnostic criteria, including minimum age of diagnosis and the need to exclude other conditions, to describe the disease. These criteria were published in 1999 and since that time, some aspects, like increasing the minimum age, have been changed. Research
Current research is aimed at studying large cohorts of people with CVID in an attempt to better understand age of onset, as well as mechanism, genetic factors, and progression of the disease.Funding for research in the US is provided by the National Institutes of Health. Key research in the UK was previously funded by the Primary Immunodeficiency Association (PiA) until its closure in January 2012, and funding is raised through the annual Jeans for Genes campaign. Current efforts are aimed at studying the following:
Causes of complications. Little is known about why such diverse complications arise during treatment
Underlying genetic factors. Though many polymorphisms and mutations have been identified, their respective roles in CVID development are poorly understood, and not represented in all people with CVID. Finding new ways to study CVID.
Endocrine diseases are disorders of the endocrine system. The branch of medicine associated with endocrine disorders is known as endocrinology. Types of disease
Broadly speaking, endocrine disorders may be subdivided into three groups:
Endocrine gland hypofunction/hyposecretion (leading to hormone deficiency)
Endocrine gland hyperfunction/hypersecretion (leading to hormone excess)
Tumours (benign or malignant) of endocrine glandsEndocrine disorders are often quite complex, involving a mixed picture of hyposecretion and hypersecretion because of the feedback mechanisms involved in the endocrine system. For example, most forms of hyperthyroidism are associated with an excess of thyroid hormone and a low level of thyroid stimulating hormone.