What’s Bubble Boy Disease?

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Bubble boy disease is a genetic disorder that causes the body to be unable to produce cells that fight infection or disease, resulting in an absent immune system. It can be caused by various genetic problems and is typically inherited. The disease is named after cases where the person was forced to live in a plastic bubble to avoid germs and viruses. The person ultimately dies from a secondary infection or disease. However, with modern medical treatment, there is a chance of recovery through gene therapy, stem cell treatments or bone marrow transplantation.

Bubble boy disease refers to one of several genetic disorders that manifest as the body’s inability to produce cells that fight infection or disease. While the specific nature of this disease may be the result of a number of different genetic causes, in general the actual condition is the same. Those affected by this type of disorder have an immune system that works so poorly that it is generally considered absent. This disease gets its name from the fact that in many cases of this disease in the past, the person has been forced to live in a plastic bubble to avoid contact with germs and viruses.

Technically called severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), bubble boy disease is a genetic disorder that can be caused by a number of different genetic problems. This is typically an inherited disorder that can be passed on from a mother or father, where the disorder is recessive and so some offspring may not get the disorder while others do. Regardless of precisely which genetic disorder causes this disease in a specific individual, the results are usually the same: The person’s immune system is unable to properly produce T and B cells, which fight the disease.

Someone with bubble boy disease does not ultimately die of the disease itself. Just like auto-immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a secondary infection or disease will eventually cause the person to die. This is because the disorder itself does not actively harm a person; it simply makes a person’s immune system unable to fight off germs and viruses. With modern medical treatment, however, this condition can be combated and there is a fair chance of recovery through gene therapy, stem cell treatments or bone marrow transplantation.

The term “bubble boy disease” mainly comes from cases of the disorder where the person afflicted with the disease was forced to live in a plastic bubble to avoid germs and viruses. A boy named David Vetter was the first “bubble boy” and he was the person for whom the term was coined. He was born with the genetic disease in 1971 and has spent most of his life in a series of rooms separated from each other by sheets of plastic. Unfortunately, he died in 1984 after a bone marrow transplant in which a dormant virus, which could not be found using the screening practices of the time, was introduced into his system and spread like cancer throughout his body. he.




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