RESUMO
The syndrome of recurrent infection constitutes an important cause of morbidity and mortality, both indeveloped and non-developed countries, which implies high social and economic costs for the health services.Practically all individuals with an appropriate immune response have important periods of recurrentinfections, which we can consider as normal. These infectious processes allow that the immune system learnshow to respond against an environment that is plenty of microorganisms with capacity to produce infectionsin an immunocompetent subject. Nevertheless recurrent infections associated with certain characteristicsmight reflect an abnormal increase of the susceptibility of an individual to certain infectious processes. Oncethe study of a patient with recurrent infection syndrome begins, it is fundamental to establish if an underlyinginmunological defect exists, which might explain the development of severe infections. The laboratoryevaluation is an important step in the goal to establish a specific diagnosis of an immunodeficiency disease. Aprecise diagnosis besides to the accelerated development of the immunotherapy, opens the possibility ofprescribing an opportune and rational treatment. An appropriate treatment must have as main goal to avoidthe relapse of infections and the development of sequels and at the same time to improve the quality of life ofthe patient and her or his family. In this article we would show a sequential scheme for the study ofthe immune response in patients that present abnormal recurrent infections. This algorithm will helpthe clinician to establish a soon phenotypic diagnosis and laterly to make a molecular characterizationof the immunodeficiency that has been identified.
