New SCID Screening Catches Rare "Bubble Boy" Disease

Jeff Kiersch holds son Jagger,
diagnosed with SCID
Hyoung Chang, Denver Post

Colorado’s newborn screening program began screening for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, or SCID, on February 1.  Two weeks later, a baby with SCID was identified.  This certainly defies the odds.  CDPHE expected to screen as many as 100,000 babies before finding a case of SCID.  In this case, we had only screened 2,000 babies. 

Children with SCID are born without any immune system.  If a baby with SCID has a successful bone marrow transplant, the stem cells in the bone marrow create an immune system and he can be cured and live a full, healthy life.  The first baby with SCID to be treated with a bone marrow transplant is alive and well into his 50s.  Children with SCID who are not diagnosed at birth and miss the opportunity to have a life-saving bone marrow transplant, typically die from persistent infections during the first year of life.

Follow this link to read the Denver Post story:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20669696/new-test-newborns-identifies-could-save-bubble-boy?IADID=Search-www.denverpost.com-www.denverpost.com