No spleen

[disorganisedsecretsquirrel]

I am confused.. I thought that we (without spleens) .. were susceptible to BACTERIAL infections .. and yet my GP placed me on the 'extremely vulnerable' list .. can anyone here explain why .? (seeing as this is a viral infection.. ) Is it a thing about not being able to regulate out temperatures and therefore vulnerable to Sepsis?

Well, I had Epstein Barr virus and my spleen was so enlarged fighting the virus they were going to have to take it out (but didn't in the end) So, I think spleens fight infections, definitely viruses.

But I don't really know.

It's part of your immune systen and without it, you are more suseptible to infection of all kinds.

DH has no spleen but didn't get any letter at all - even though he gets the flu vaccination every year.

You do have to be more careful if you have no spleen as it does work to remove some antigens from your system, but it doesn't put you at 'extremely' high risk.

OhCrrumbsWhereNow. that's so strange.. I have no other co-mobidities?.. why have I had Govt food packages, priority delivery slots and all hep I could ask for ?

You obviously have a proactive GP surgery! DH has asthma as well, so thought we might get a letter, but we're not in need of any help so not a problem.

Given that delivery slots are like gold dust, I would hold on to that status very carefully!

I’m in a similar boat, but I have a very small amount of spleen remaining, I’m supposedly high risk (not shielding), however I recover from colds etc very quickly and don’t need to take antibiotics when I get temperatures etc.

DD also has no spleen. We haven’t had the letter for her. We were told that if she developed symptoms, we should double her dose of penicillin for a week. I also wondered how that would help. Are you shielding OP?

Yes IreneWinters I am shielding. I received my first text from the NHS Coronavirus Service on the very first day - with comprehensive details of what I should do . Chief amongst the advice was to 'shield for 12 weeks'.

This was followed up within 3 days with a letter with the same info.

Same!!!! My consultant and the literature in red I thought I was on the middle group. I was quite surprised and distraught to find suddenly I was on the shielding group. Especially after getting the letter quite late

The way I sort of understand it is that because of the weakened immunity to bacterial infections means that if i got the virus or a bacterial infection it would be harder to fight.