PETALING JAYA: Primary Immunodeficiency (PI), a life-threatening condition that weakens the immune system, is not as rare as many assume, say immunologists.

       Consultant clinical immunologist and allergist Dr Amir Hamzah Abdul Latiff said there is a misconception that the disorder is rare, as the prevalence of the condition is about one in 1,200 people.

       “This is not considered rare. It is only considered rare if it is one in 2,000 people, ” he said.

       Thus, he said there would be at least 25,000 people with the condition in a population of about 30 million.

       “Till this point of time, those diagnosed with PI is less than 2%. So we are getting fewer than 500 patients diagnosed,” he said.

       This means that only an estimated one out of 50 Malaysians who have PI are well aware of their condition.

       “We need to make great efforts to diagnose those likely to have PI quickly as this would put their lives at risk of morbidity,” he said during a webinar on Primary Immunodeficiency on Saturday.

       Titled “A Hidden Health Threat”, the webinar was organised by the Star Media Group and the Malaysian Patient Organisation for Immunodeficiency (MyPopi).

       Dr Amir Hamzah said that PI causes the person to have infections that come back frequently or are unusually hard to cure.

       Among the warning signs, he said, are four or more new ear infections a year, two or more months on antibiotics with little effect, and two or more pneumonia bouts within one year.

       Consultant paediatric immunologist Dr Adli Ali said that the symptoms of PI may appear just to be that of an infection.

       “It usually goes unnoticed, ignored, misdiagnosed and subsequently mistreated. That is very unfortunate,” he said, adding that there were 400 types of disorders of the condition known so far.

       He said that in some instances, it took the death of several family members before the condition is diagnosed in an individual.

       Dr Adli said that most severe and common PIs could be screened with a simple blood test, which can be done at most centres in the country.

       He suggested that newborns should be screened especially for severe PI.

       “In the US, this is part of routine tests performed in a newborn child nationwide.

       “This is a simple test. Unfortunately in Malaysia, although the technology and expertise is available, it is yet to be integrated into the national newborn screening programmes,” he said, adding that he hoped the government would consider the tests in the near future.

       Dr Amir said that there were multiple treatments for the diagnosed conditions these days – both prevention and in treating infections.

       He also spoke of a need for more immunologists in the country, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommending two immunologists for every one million people.