Health & Nutrition Facts for Bodybuilders

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is a genetic condition that is characterized by the absence of T lymphocytes; T lymphocytes are specialized white blood cells that develop in an infant’s thymus gland and then move into the bloodstream where they support the work of other immune cells. Even if other immune cells are present in normal numbers – which is the case in some forms of SCID – they cannot function properly without the assistance of T cells. For example, B cells cannot effectively produce antibodies without receiving appropriate signals from helper T cells. SCID occurs in one in 100,000 to one in 40,000 live births, but among certain populations it is much more common (among Navajo children, for example, the incidence of SCID approaches one in 2,500). SCID manifests in different forms – all of them caused by mutations in at least 10 different genes that produce at least four variations of the disease – but in all cases there is a paucity of T cells with a resultant los...