Immunodeficiency, Agammaglobulinemia
Basic Information 
Clinical Presentation
• Recurrent opportunistic bacterial infections, especially arthritis or respiratory disease
• Bacterial dermatitis and enteritis also reported
• Affected foals appear normal at birth but fail to thrive.
• Infections develop at 2 to 32 weeks of age as maternal immunity wanes.
• The foals become extremely anemic.
Etiology and Pathophysiology
• Foals remain healthy as long as they have protective levels of maternal antibodies.
• Infections develop as maternal antibodies wane and are not replaced by autologous antibodies.
• Although total lymphocyte numbers remain within the normal range, B cells are absent.
• The molecular basis of this disease is unknown but appears to be the result of a stem cell defect that results in a failure to produce any functional B cells.
• There may be a persistent low level of immunoglobulin production suggesting that a few B cells may develop.
Diagnosis 
Advanced or Confirmatory Testing
• Serum protein electrophoresis to evaluate immunoglobulin concentrations
• Repeated serum immunoglobulin quantitation to provide assurance that the animal is persistently agammaglobulinemic and that the hypogammaglobulinemia is not transient
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