What is Chad disease?

Cold agglutinin disease is a rare type of autoimmune hemolytic anemia

autoimmune hemolytic anemia

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is a decompensated acquired hemolysis caused by the host's immune system acting against its own red cell antigens. AIHA is primary or secondary, depending on the presence of an underlying disease or condition promoting immune dysregulation.

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Defining autoimmune hemolytic anemia: a systematic review of the ...

in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys its own red blood cells.

Is there a cure for cold agglutinin disease?

Cold agglutinin disease is a rare, acquired chronic autoimmune hemolytic condition that destroys red blood cells. It leads to chronic anemia, severe fatigue, and potentially fatal thrombotic events. No drug has yet been approved to treat cold agglutinin disease.

What can cause cold agglutinin disease?

In adults, this is typically due to: Bacterial infections such as mycoplasma, Legionnaires' disease, syphilis, listeriosis, or E. coli. Viral infections such Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, mumps, varicella, rubella, adenovirus, HIV, influenza, or hepatitis C.

How long does cold agglutinin last?

Not all individuals with these infections who develop cold agglutinins will have clinically significant hemolysis. For those who do, it usually occurs approximately two weeks after onset of the primary infection, diminishes as the infection begins to resolve, and is gone within two to three months.

How common is cold agglutinin disease?

It's triggered by cold temperatures, and it can cause problems that range from dizziness to heart failure. It's also called cold antibody hemolytic anemia. About 1 person in 300,000 gets cold agglutinin disease. It shows up most often in people over 60, and women are more likely to get it than men.

Chad Rammohan, MD - Cardiovascular Disease | El Camino Health

Does Covid cause cold agglutinin disease?

After excluding the possible causes, it was concluded that it was a case of COVID-19 induced cold agglutinin disease (CAD). DISCUSSION: Increased thrombotic events are well known complication of COVID-19. However, little remains known regarding development of various autoimmune conditions[1].

What type of doctor treats cold agglutinin disease?

Hematologists. Hematologists specialize in the treatment of blood disorders and are familiar with CAD. They can guide the diagnostic process and treat affected patients to maintain their red blood cells at optimal levels.

What happens when a patient with cold agglutinins body temperature falls?

Cold agglutinins are particular cold-reactive antibodies that react with red blood cells when the blood temperature drops below normal body temperature causing increased blood viscosity and red blood cell clumping.

Is cold agglutinin disease hereditary?

CAD is not a hereditary condition, and no genetic mutations are linked to CAD directly. However, a recent study identified mutations in two different genes in antibody-producing B-cells that were isolated from the bone marrow of 16 primary CAD patients ages 56 to 84.

Is cold agglutinin disease an autoimmune disease?

Cold agglutinin disease (CAD) is a rare autoimmune disorder characterized by the premature destruction of red blood cells (hemolysis). Autoimmune diseases occur when one's own immune system attacks healthy tissue. More specifically, CAD is a subtype of autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

What autoimmune disease makes you cold all the time?

Cold agglutinin disease, or CAD, is a rare autoimmune disorder in which self-targeting antibodies attack and destroy red blood cells at low temperatures.

What disease state is most often associated with a high cold agglutinin?

Associated infections

(Cold agglutinins develop in more than 60% of patients with infectious mononucleosis, but hemolytic anemia is rare.) Cytomegalovirus (CMV), rubella virus, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), parvovirus B19, and Chlamydia psittaci have also been implicated.

Why would a patient with a positive cold agglutinin test be tested?

A cold agglutinin test may be used to help detect cold agglutinin disease and determine the cause of a person's hemolytic anemia.

How do you manage patients with cold agglutinin disease?

Mild disease can be managed by avoidance of cold and adequate precautions in specific situations, without drug therapy. Corticosteroids should not be used to treat CAD. Patients requiring pharmacological therapy should be considered for prospective trials.

How do you test for cold agglutinin?

The cold agglutinin test measures the levels of cold agglutinins in a patient's blood. The clinician takes a blood sample from the patient and separates it into several vials. Each portion of the sample is then diluted to a different level, and cooled overnight to determine at what dilution the patient's blood clots.

How is cold hemolytic anemia treated?

The First International Consensus Group on diagnosis and therapy of autoimmune hemolytic anemia recommends rituximab, with or without bendamustine, for first-line treatment of patients with cold agglutinin disease who require therapy.

Where are agglutinins located?

In blood typing, antigens on the surfaces of red blood cells (RBCs) are also known as agglutinogens and the antibodies that react against them are also called agglutinins. Antibodies in the blood are found in the plasma.

Is autoimmune hemolytic anemia serious?

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia happens when your immune system attacks your red blood cells. Symptoms may be mild or severe and can be treated using a number of different methods. While AIHA is highly treatable, it can be serious — and even fatal — if left unaddressed.

What is the main reason testing for cold agglutinins is no longer recommended to diagnose infection with Mycoplasma pneumonia?

Before the availability of new technologies, cold agglutinins were used to confirm a diagnosis of M. pneumoniae infection. However, lack of sensitivity and specificity rendered cold agglutinins irrelevant for diagnosis because they may also be present in infections caused by viruses and other bacteria.

How is agglutination treated?

If the causative antibodies are only active at room temperature, the agglutination can be reversed by heating the blood sample to 37 °C (99 °F). People with warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia may exhibit red cell agglutination that does not resolve on warming.

Is Raynaud's linked to anemia?

Cold agglutinin disease (CAD) is a rare autoimmune disease in which the immune system makes antibodies that mistakenly attack red blood cells in cold temperatures. The disease is characterized by anemia and other symptoms, including Raynaud's phenomenon.

What effect could cold agglutinin disease have on a routine full blood count?

While RBC agglutination causes clinical symptoms of hemolytic anemia, agglutination caused by cold agglutinin is a notorious pre-analytical and analytical factor that leads to spurious automated complete blood count (CBC) results [2].

How long does hemolytic anemia last?

Some types of acquired hemolytic anemia are short-term (temporary) and go away over several months. Other types can become lifelong (chronic). They may go away and come back again over time.

What causes the body to destroy red blood cells?

Red blood cells may be destroyed due to: An autoimmune problem in which the immune system mistakenly sees your own red blood cells as foreign substances and destroys them. Genetic defects within the red cells (such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, and G6PD deficiency)

What causes red blood cells to clump together?

At the cooler temperature, the cold agglutinin antibodies on the surface of red blood cells cause the cells to clump together, and it becomes more difficult for them to travel through the blood vessels. Acrocyanosis then develops, in which the skin in the peripheral areas of the body turns blue or purple.