Thursday, March 20th, 2025

What are the main causes and symptoms of cold agglutinin disease? Know about its diagnosis and treatment


This is a rare type of auto immune disease in which your immune system starts destroying your body’s own red blood cells. To protect against disease, your immune system produces antibodies that fight germs.

But in this disease your body starts producing auto anti body which is called cold agglutinin. It starts attacking healthy red blood cells. This is a type of hemolytic anemia.

Red blood cells are necessary to carry oxygen in the body. In this, your body temperature starts decreasing and your red blood cells start getting destroyed. When this happens, you may experience mild to severe symptoms of anemia.

How common is this disease?

This disease is quite rare. About one person out of 10 lakh people gets this disease. Women have more risk of getting this disease than men and when a woman’s age is above 40, the risk increases further. Most people get this disease around the age of 60.

How does this disease affect your body?

How does this disease affect your body?

When there is a deficiency of red blood cells in your body, this condition is called anemia and you see anemia like symptoms in this disease. Its symptoms depend on your condition. You can see him/her throughout your life or even for a short period of time. In many cases, you see its symptoms after a few years and only then can you recognize the disease.

symptoms

symptoms

Its symptoms include fatigue, feeling weak, dizziness, sweating, shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing, increased heartbeat, yellowing of the skin, etc.

Reason

Reason

This disease is a type of auto-immune hemolytic anemia. In this, the temperature of your body decreases due to which the auto antibodies produced in your body start attacking the red blood cells of your own body and destroying them. Due to this, there is a deficiency of red blood cells in the body and you see symptoms like anemia.

Treatment

Treatment

Change in lifestyle: To manage this disease, your doctor may ask you to make some lifestyle changes, such as advising you to stay away from cold temperatures.
Medicines: Your doctor may also give you some medicines such as rituximab. This medicine prevents the body from producing auto antibodies and also stops your immune system from attacking red blood cells. Apart from this, some medicines are also available in the market. A new medicine can also be used, whose name is Citimilab and it has been recently approved. Your doctor will be able to tell you clearly about this.
Blood transfusion: Your doctor may also recommend procedures like blood transfusion or plasma exchange to manage this condition. In plasma exchange, the number of auto antibodies in your body starts decreasing.
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only. It cannot in any way be a substitute for any medicine or treatment. Always consult your doctor for more information.

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