Did You Know!
You Can Live Without a Spleen—but You’ll Be More Vulnerable to Specific Infections
While not entirely unknown, what’s rarely appreciated is how much your vulnerability increases to certain infections after a splenectomy. Without a spleen, your risk of severe infections from encapsulated bacteria like Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis skyrockets—sometimes by more than 50-fold. Vaccination and sometimes lifelong antibiotics are needed to mitigate this hidden risk.
