Selective IgA Deficiency In a 77-Year-Old Woman

To the Editor.—  The selective absence of IgA was reported first by Heremans in 1960, and it has since been associated with numerous syndromes especially involving the gastrointestinal tract and respiratory tree.¹ This disease has been reported to be of autosomal dominance and autosomal recessive in transmission.² There are reports of asymptomatic patients³; however, long-term follow-up repeatedly leads to the onset and identification of the disease.The prognosis of selective IgA deficiency is apparently patient-dependent; however, the lack of older subjects in a large population studied at Hammersmith Hospital that failed to show a patient over 62 years of age among 11,000 patients, and the mortality of five of 24 propositi within two years suggest that it may take a serious course affecting the life span.¹Recently, we had the occasion to see a 77-year-old woman who complained of recurrent hives. At age 32, she had