3.1 | Clinical characteristics and pathogens
The clinical features of the children are summarized in Table
1 . These were seven boys with age ranging from 4-20 months (median age,
13 months). All children had respiratory infections, including fever and
cough. All patients had at least one episode of respiratory tract
infection. Of the seven patients, four (P1, P5, P6, and P7) hadTalaromyces marneffei(T.
marneffei) infection and two (P2 and P3) were identified to have
cytomegalovirus (CMV) and human adenovirus (HAdV) infections,
respectively; Only P2 was confirmed to have a mixed infection caused byPneumocystis carinii(P. carinii) and CMV. From a pulmonary
imaging perspective, four patients developed lymphadenopathy and diffuse
infiltration with T. marneffei infection on high-resolution
computed tomography (HRCT) (Figure 1A ). The other three
patients (P2, P3, and P4) showed ground-glass opacities on HRCT
(Figure 1B ). Specifically, seven patients were followed up for
3-10 years. During the follow-up period, only one patient (P3) died of
respiratory failure, whereas the others survived
with regular infusions of
intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) (as checked till before manuscript
submission).
3.2 | Hematological andimmunological
parameters
Immunological evaluations of the seven patients at the time of diagnosis
are listed in Table 2 . Almost all patients had reduced serum
IgG levels, except for one child (P6) treated with IVIg before the
examination. Serum IgM levels of P3, P4, and P5 were slightly elevated,
while serum IgM levels of the other patients (P1, P2, P6, and P7) were
normal. High or normal T and B
lymphocyte counts were observed in all patients. The counts of
CD19+ B cells were elevated in P1, P2, P3, P4, and P7,
whereas the other two patients (P5 and P6) had normal
CD19+ B cell counts. Nitro blue tetrazolium test
results were normal in all patients.