IMMUNO-

combining form (Health and Fitness) The combining form of the adjective immune, used in a wide variety of medical terms associated with the immune system, especially: immunocompetence, the capacity for a normal immune response; also as an adjective immunocompetent; immunocompromised, having an impaired immune system, especially as a result of illness; immunodeficiency, immunodepression, a state of reduced immune defences in the body; also as adjectives immunodeficient, immunodepressed. History and Usage: All of these terms have existed in the medical literature for some time; all came to prominence in less technical sources as a result of the growth of Aids during the eighties and the attendant spurt of interest in the workings of the immune system. Immunodeficiency is most familiar to non-specialists as part of the name of human immunodeficiency virus (see HIV), the virus which has been associated with the development of Aids. They were further down the road than Phylly was. They weren't as tough or as immunocompetent. Michael Bishop Unicorn Mountain (1988; 1989 ed.), p. 310 The categories of those who most need to take care--infants, the pregnant, etc--now include 'the immuno-compromised'. Guardian 13 July 1989, p. 23