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Re: Boy in a bubble, documentary on David Vetter, ARTE (French/Ge...

From:     Prof. Peach
Category: Life
Date:     04 September 2007
Time:     05:09 PM

Review:

David Vetter suffered from a rare genetic condition called SCID (Severe combined 
immunodeficiency). At the time David was born (1972) children born with this condition died in their 
infancy. Mrs. Vetter had given birth to a son in 1971 who died, sure enough, within a few months. 
Doctors at the children's hospital in Houston, Texas persuaded Mr. and Mrs. Vetter that if they gave 
birth to another son (SCID only affects males), he could be cared for in a sterile environment before 
being given a bone marrow transplant from his sister. Sadly, her blood was not compatible, which is 
why David ended up living all those years in a bubble.

Although a later bone marrow transplant from his sister was successful for a few months in late 1983, 
the blood contained dormant EBV (Epstein-Barr virus) that caused lymphoma ultimately killing David. 
These days children born with SCID have a 90% chance of survival.


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