chronic granulomatous disease n either of two diseases that are inherited as X-linked and autosomal traits, are characterized by recurrent infections which lead to granuloma formation at infection sites (as the skin or lungs), and result from a defect in the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria and fungi
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(CGD), chronic granulomatous disease of childhood any of a group of hereditary (X-linked or autosomal recessive) immunodeficiencies, caused by failure of the respiratory burst, resulting in deficient microbicidal ability. Patients have frequent, severe, prolonged bacterial and fungal infections of the skin, oral and intestinal mucosa, reticuloendothelial system, bones, lungs, and genitourinary tract. The course of the disease varies: symptoms may appear in the neonate, with death in childhood, or a patient may survive into middle age. There seem to be no physiologic differences between the X-linked and the autosomal recessive types.Medical dictionary. 2011.