Treatment will depend on your child’s symptoms, age, and general health. It will also depend on how severe the condition is.
Treatment for SCID includes:
- Treat the current infection
- Avoiding germs and preventing new infections
- Fixing the immune system problem (immunodeficiency)
The best treatment for this disease is a bone marrow transplant, which offers a chance of a cure. In a bone marrow transplant, bone marrow cells are transplanted from a healthy person to the child. Bone marrow is the soft, spongy tissue found inside the bones. It helps blood cells form, and is the place where the body stores blood cells.
A bone marrow transplant has the best chance of working if it is done during a child’s first three months of life. The goal of bone marrow transplant is to help the child’s immune system work better. Cord blood may also be used for the transplant.
Researchers have had some success using gene therapy to treat SCID. But gene therapy is still in the experimental stages.