EC Paediatrics

Lymphopenia to the child is defined by a decrease in lymphocytes number under normal value correlated to age. It is a non-exceptional situation in pediatrics and research must be conducted methodically. In children, it must be identified according to the inversion of the leucocytes range, before 4 years of age. The investigation strategy should be guided by the context that identify the causes. In children, the usual viral diseases are the main cause of lymphopenia, less than 15 days, in healthy style conditions or severe COVID-19. In the context of unusual infection, we must think about HIV infection, and Severe Combine Immunodeficiencies (SCID), even if we have young child. Sometimes the context and very typical, such as malignant hemopathy or chemotherapy. When a child present autoimmunity symptom, a lupus must be evocated. A context of chronic diarrhea should orient to exudative enteropathy, even if we have edema and hypoalbuminemia. When the context is not evocative, then think about Waldmann's lymphangiectasia, zinc deficiency. A clinical context-oriented assessment often leads to the cause of lymphopenia. Our aim is to propose an etiological diagnosis strategy, based on the clinic and some complementary examinations.

 Keywords: Lymphopenia; HIV; COVID-19; Immunodeficiencies

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