‘Bubble Boy’ 12 today

Press, 22 September 1983, Page 10

‘Bubble Boy’ 12 today

NZPA Houston A boy named David, the world’s oldest survivor of untreated, severe combined immune deficiency, celebrates his twelfth birthday today inside the sterile plastic bubble where he has lived his entire life.

“He is just like any other 12-year-old boy,” said Susannah Griffin, a spokesman at the Baylor College of Medicine where the youngster’s care is directed. "He seems happy. He seems to accept his life.”

David, whose last name has been kept secret, has never been touched by a bare human hand or received a mother’s kiss. He suffers from an absence of two types of white blood cells necessary to fight in-

fection, a condition called severe combined immune deficiency, and must be protected from all germs.

David was born into a sterile environment and was placed immediately into a plastic bubble. He spent most of his infant years in a plastic-walled room at the hospital and later was moved to a plastic bubble installed in the home of his parents. Doctors took precautions preparing for David’s birth after tests while he was in the womb determined that he would lack two types of lymphocytes — T-cells, which ward off infection, and B-cells, which produce antibodies against germs. The doctors planned after David’s birth to transplant bone marrow from his sis-

ter, but the plan was abandoned when they found that the blood types were not compatible. Bone marrow is the organ in the body that produces lymphocytes. Since then, except for constant protection from the outside world, David has received no treatment for his condition.

David spends most of his time in a four-compartment isolator that takes most of his family’s living and dining rooms. The isolator is supplied with constantly filtered air that removes germs. He spends two weeks a year, one each in June and December, at the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, where two rooms are reserved for him at the hospital. At home during the school

year David spends 2Ms hours each morning and afternoon participating by a telephone hook-up in a regular 6th grade class at a nearby school. A tutor teaches him at home for another two hours daily. Tests have shown David to have a superior I.Q. and the scholastic abilities of an Bth grader. The family takes David on outings through the use of a portable isolator which fits in a van. The boy was treated to a special showing of “Return of the Jedi” at a local theatre during the year and for his twelfth birthday is expecting the gift of “Jedi” toys. Mrs Griffin said that he also would receive video game cartridges and electronic toys.