New arguments to explain the high infection rate in posttraumatic spleenless patients.

To get more information about the high infection rate in splenectomized adult patients 211 spleenless patients were investigated with regard to clinical and laboratory data and compared to healthy blood donors. The results show that the infection rate is markedly increased to 30%. Splenectomized patients have decreased IgG levels which is due to diminished IgG1 and IgG4.