An international research network investigating life-threatening primary immune deficiency diseases will receive the largest federal award ever to study the diseases, according to an announcement today from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF) - a national non-profit health organization dedicated to improving the diagnosis and treatment of primary immune deficiency diseases - will support the US Immunodeficiency Network (USID Net), a consortium of leading researchers who will develop and oversee an ambitious and comprehensive research agenda and distribute funds to individual researchers totaling nearly $12.8 million over the next five years.

USID Net will be jointly sponsored by NIAID and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Primary immune deficiency disorders are caused by intrinsic or genetic defects in the immune system. The result is an immune system that is either missing entirely or does not function properly. The World Health Organization recognizes more than 100 of these disorders. As many as 50,000 people in the U.S. have a clinically significant primary immune deficiency disease.