Agglutinin Treatment for a Cold

Agglutinin disease occurs when the antibodies react to colder climates by forming protein on the red blood cells (RBCs). These cold-reacting antibodies attack antigen I, which is found on the surface of the membrane. Agglutinin is an autoimmune disorder, which is when the immune system attacks healthy body tissue.

Symptoms

• Agglutinin is commonly known as a cold agglutinin disease. This disease is an autoimmune disorder characterized by antibodies that react to cold temperatures, forming proteins on the surface membrane of red blood cells.

  Transient cold agglutinin disease may appear abruptly while chronic cold agglutinin may appear more gradually. Cold agglutinin disease may appear with symptoms of infection of hemolysis or anemia. The symptoms of hemolysis may include jaundice as well as hemoglobinuria, which will make your urine dark. Anemia symptoms are fatigue, dyspnea, poor feeding in children or pallor. Acrocyanosis may occur in chronic disease with symptoms of discoloration in your toes, nose and ears when exposed to cold weather.

Treatment

• There are several ways to treat cold agglutinin, which will primarily depend on the stage of the disease as well as tests to determine an underlying cause.
  Supportive care is the first form of treatment, which will begin with avoiding cold temperatures. A RBC transfusion will be required to determine if there are any acute diseases. The RBC transfusions will use blood warmers at temperatures of 39 degrees Celsius. If the disease is caused by an acute illness, warming the blood by transfused RBCs may result in significant improvement. Additional tests may be done to eliminate other causes of this disease.
  The direct treatment of viral underlying disease, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), or the mumps will begin to show improvement of agglutinin symptoms. Other illnesses such as mycoplasma infection, lymphoproliferative disease, or systemic autoimmune disease will also need to be treated to yield improving results.
  Prednisone therapy is a hormone therapy that can be used temporarily in severe causes. This treatment can reduce autoantibody level for a short period of time because autoantibodies are continually being produced. This treatment is not used often.

  Cold reacting agglutinin disease is typically seen after 50, but more often in a person 70 or older. Children or young adults who have cold agglutinin disease will usually see it go away on its own.