Evaluation and Long-Term Follow-up of Patients With Inflammatory Disorders

Overview

This study will investigate inflammatory diseases and disorders. Inflammation is the body s immune response to many things, including infections and other acute or chronic irritants. It may also be a sign of abnormal immune function. This study will allow evaluation and long-term follow-up of such disorders to: * Establish and maintain a group of patients that may be eligible for other NIAID protocols. * Provide clinical training and experience for NIAID fellows. * Provide a mechanism for NIAID staff to maintain their clinical skills. * Serve as a starting point for new investigations of syndromes not currently under study. Patients between 1 and 80 years of age with acute or chronic inflammation, including but not limited to viral, fungal or bacterial infections, or abnormal immune responses may be eligible for this study. Immediate family members of patients may also be enrolled for preliminary examination to see if they are affected in any way that may warrant further investigation. All patients and family members will have a history, physical examination and laboratory tests. Depending on the results, family members may require additional tests. Patients will have additional diagnostic tests indicated for their specific disease, according to accepted medical standards. These may include routine blood and urine tests, X-rays or other imaging studies, body fluid or tissue cultures, skin tests for allergic or immune responses, and others as needed. Treatments will include only medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration according to accepted dose schedules and delivery methods. Patients may be requested to donate extra blood for research studies. No more than 450 cc (30 tablespoons) will be drawn from adults within a 6-week period, and no more that 7 cc (1/2 tablespoon) from children under 18 years of age in the same time period.

Inflammatory disorders, including but not limited to those caused by viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections, and those associated with aberrant immunologic responses are exceedingly common acute and chronic disorders affecting humans. The pathogeneses of these various disorders are being investigated under a number of NIAID clinical research protocols. This protocol is an evaluation and long-term follow-up protocol of such disorders for the purposes of maintaining a group of patients on which LCIM investigators draw for our other various protocols. Also, this protocol may serve as a start point to studies of syndromes or diseases not being addressed by specific protocols, and therefore, can be used to evaluate family members of patients with inflammatory conditions when appropriate in order to try to understand further the disease before embarking in a specific protocol. It is anticipated that the patients will receive a degree of clinical evaluation, care and monitoring more extensive that that generally available and that specimens collected from them can sometimes be used for laboratory studies related to inflammatory conditions.