About Sylvie Expertise I can answer questions about T cell function, immunization, or general immune function including "the immune system gone bad" - autoimmune diseases like Juvenile Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus.
I'm less specialised in AIDS but if it's a specific T cell question, I'm your girl.
Experience I'm a research scientist and university lecturer in Immunology, and I regularly publish peer-reviewed papers. I'm not a medical doctor but I can provide information on how or why the immune system does what it does. Education/Credentials: PhD
Question Hi. I have suffered from chronic sinus problems (nasal congestion, coughing) for almost 8 years (since I was 18 years of age). All the ENT's I went to just wanted to do surgery and could not tell me the reason for the problems. Finally I went to an Allergist/Immunologist that found I had no allergies, but did have immune deficiencies to S.Pneumonia, H. Influenza strain B, and had lost my polio vaccine since childhood. Do these three things have any sort of relationship to one another? I find it weird that I lost my vaccine to polio. Is that common? Can you tell me more? Should three simple vaccines solve my problems? Thank you so much!
Answer Hi Lindsey,
Interesting situation! Sorry for the delay but I wanted to check with a colleague who specializes in allergy. Neither of us can see much link between the sinus issues and your poor "immunological memory" (immunological memory is the creation of long-lived white blood cells and antibodies specific to the bugs contained in the immunization - they are what give you protection against those bugs from then on).
Just to check - were you vaccinated against S. Pneumonia and HIB as well as polio? I'm not sure from your question. (I'm asking because if you weren't ever vaccinated, there's no reason to have a detectable immune response to them). The oral polio vaccine requires a couple of boosters for long-term immunity - did you definitely get those? If the immunization schedule was incomplete, you would lose immunity sooner than expected. If you did get the full schedule, then it is unusual not to generate persistent immunological memory, but some gastro bugs can affect the oral polio vaccine - maybe you were a little sick for one vaccination and therefore didn't make the best immune response.
Here's a long shot - but you've never had chemotherapy or radiotherapy, have you? Or long-term steroid treatment? they can affect immunological memory to vaccines.
If you're generally healthy aside from the sinus issues - ie no persistent, recurrent, or unusual bacterial infections - then it's unlikely your immune system is deficient. Did the allergist find any allergies? They're actually a sign of an overactive immune system, if anything.
Anyway, I can tell you that the vaccines definitely won't solve your sinus issues!! They'll give you protection against specific infection with those bugs, and that's all.
Hope that helps, and good luck with your sinuses, nasty stuff that.
