Symptoms

Babies with XLA generally appear healthy for the first few months because they're protected by the antibodies they got from their mothers before birth. When these antibodies clear from their systems, the babies begin to develop often severe, recurrent bacterial infections — such as of the ears, lungs, sinuses and skin — that can be life-threating.

Male infants born with XLA have:

• Very small tonsils
• Small or no lymph nodes