An elevated IgA level obtained in a 10-year-old male a year after an episode of pneumococcal sepsis led to the discovery of a broad-based IgG-specific antibody deficiency syndrome. The specifics of the case and pertinent literature are presented, including a discussion of the hyper-IgD syndrome. An elevated IgA, greater than two standard deviations above the expected age range should prompt a complete workup for selective antibody deficiency syndrome and adds an additional associated marker of an indolent hyper-IgD syndrome in a different clinical circumstance, although the lack of antibody response to vaccines is atypical of the hyper-IgD syndrome.
Keywords: IgA; immunodeficiency; pediatric.