While less common than allergies, recurrent sinus infections, bronchitis and pneumonia cause significant illness. These infections may be the result of an impaired immune system, an immunodeficiency. The most common of these immunodeficiencies is when the body is not able to produce enough or the current antibodies. The evaluation consists of measuring the antibody levels in the blood and screening for the protective levels of these antibodies too common bacterial infections.

Treatment will depend on the results of the laboratory studies. In some cases this may be with replacement of the antibodies in the blood. Identifying an immune deficiency is critical to improving the health of the affected individual to prevent future damaging and possibly life threatening infections.