AGAMMAGLOBULINEMIA was first described by Bruton 1 in a male child as a syndrome of recurrent bacterial infection associated with a lack of gamma globulin despite an otherwise relatively normal plasma protein pattern. Similar cases subsequently from other clinics also have been in male children.* In 1948, one of us (S. S.) prepared two pneumococcal vaccines for Colonel Bruton's patient, each of which failed to induce antibody formation. Subsequently Bruton demonstrated that this child's plasma proteins were deficient in gamma globulin. The failure of such children to develop immunity to infections would suggest that relatively few, prior to the antibiotic era, would have survived to adulthood. The purpose of this report is to describe this syndrome in two adults, one with repeated bacterial pneumonias and one with repeated infections associated with a sprue-like picture.
REPORT OF CASES
Case 1.6
—G. W. S., a 26-year-old white male farmer's helper, was