Remembering ‘The Boy In The Bubble’: 40 Years After David Vetter Was Born, Where Are We With SCID, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency?

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) was famously associated with Texas-born David Vetter, who was known to the world as "The Boy In The Bubble." Many years after the life and death of "The Boy In The Bubble," where do we stand in the fight against SCID?

What Is Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID)?  

Citing the National Human Genome Research Institute, Severe combined immunodeficiency or SCID is characterized by genetically determined defects in the T and B cells in the blood. These defects render an SCID-affected individual defenseless and severely vulnerable to all types of viruses, bacteria and even fungi.

SCID only appears in male offsprings. During the life of "The Boy In The Bubble," medical experts had hoped that transplant of a matched bone marrow would help correct the SCID limitations in David Vetter. 

How The Story Of "The Boy In The Bubble" Came To Be

The Daily Mail recalls that when SCID patient David Vetter was born in 1971, he was immediately placed inside a sterile containment unit. Although this SCID response was supposed to be a temporary measure the sterile bubble stayed with David all his life, hence the nickname "The Boy In The Bubble."

Medical experts were given a rare insiders' view on SCID through the "The Boy In The Bubble," and this helped in the study of the disease. "The Boy In The Bubble" also aided medical experts in their research for a cure that would enable SCID patients to live a relatively normal life.

According to The Houston Chronicle, David Vetter's parents were the first ones to attempt to protect the life of an SCID patient. In the past, babies born with SCID were not given the same sterilized cocoon that David Vetter was given.

Doctors attempted treatment immediately after the SCID afflicted babies were born. SCID, however, always won out and the patients never survived long enough to give further perspective into the hereditary disease.

The Victory Of "The Boy In The Bubble" Over SCID

Moral and ethical questions were raised over David Vetter becoming "The Boy In The Bubble," but his life reportedly helped medical experts gain ground on SCID that they never had before. When David Vetter was given the bone marrow transplant for SCID, the surgery was successful if not for the unexpected Epstein-Barr virus in the donor's marrow.

In the end, SCID did not claim the life of David Vetter. "The Boy In The Bubble," who won over SCID, died of lymph cancer which was caused by the Epstein-Barr virus.

Carol Ann Demaret, David's mother, said that their family found comfort in knowing that the SCID legacy of "The Boy In The Bubble" will save the lives of many other children, who share his condition. "His life, however short or restricted, helped scientists learn more about primary immunodeficiencies so that they could help other infants with SCID," David's mother wrote.

David Verret gave medical experts the chance to link virus and cancer. The life and death of "The Boy In The Bubble" also afforded medical experts the opportunity to determine the gene which causes immune deficiencies.

Bone marrow transplants on newborns with SCID are seeing high success rates as long as the procedure is administered before the infant reaches three months of life. Thanks to "The Boy In The Bubble" no other child with SCID will ever have to live in a bubble again.