Some Disorders That Cause Secondary Immunodeficiency

Category

Examples

Endocrine

Diabetes mellitus

Gastrointestinal

Hepatic insufficiency

Hepatitis

Intestinal lymphangiectasia

Protein-losing enteropathy

Hematologic

Aplastic anemia

Cancers (eg, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, multiple myeloma, Hodgkin lymphoma)

Graft-vs-host disease

Sickle cell disease

Splenectomy

Iatrogenic

Certain medications, such as chemotherapy agents, immunosuppressants, corticosteroids; radiation therapy; splenectomy

Infectious

Viral infections (eg, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, HIV, measles virus, varicella-zoster virus)

Bacterial infections

Rare bacterial infections with superantigens (antigens that can activate large numbers of T cells, resulting in massive cytokine production, most notably from Staphylococcus aureus)

Mycobacterial infections

Nutritional

Alcohol use disorder

Undernutrition

Physiologic

Physiologic immunodeficiency in infants due to immaturity of the immune system

Pregnancy

Renal

Chronic kidney disease

Nephrotic syndrome

Uremia

Rheumatologic

Systemic lupus erythematosus

Other

Burns

Cancers

Chromosomal abnormalities (eg, Down syndrome)

Congenital asplenia

Critical and chronic illness

Histiocytosis

Sarcoidosis