- Section 1 Patients and their treatment
- Section 2 Background to medicine
- Section 3 Cell biology
- Section 4 Immunological mechanisms
- Section 5 Principles of clinical oncology
- Section 6 Old age medicine
- Section 7 Pain and palliative care
- Section 8 Infectious diseases
- Section 9 Sexually transmitted diseases
- Section 10 Environmental medicine, occupational medicine, and poisoning
- Section 11 Nutrition
- Section 12 Metabolic disorders
- Section 13 Endocrine disorders
- Section 14 Medical disorders in pregnancy
- Section 15 Gastroenterological disorders
- Section 16 Cardiovascular disorders
- Section 17 Critical care medicine
- Section 18 Respiratory disorders
- Section 19 Rheumatological disorders
- Section 20 Disorders of the skeleton
- Section 21 Disorders of the kidney and urinary tract
- Section 22 Haematological disorders
- 22.1 Introduction to haematology
- 22.2 Haematopoiesis
- 22.3 Myeloid disease
- 22.3.1 Granulocytes in health and disease
- 22.3.2 Myelodysplastic syndromes
- 22.3.3 Acute myeloid leukaemia
- 22.3.4 Chronic myeloid leukaemia
- 22.3.5 The polycythaemias
- 22.3.6 Thrombocytosis and essential thrombocythaemia
- 22.3.7 Primary myelofibrosis
- 22.3.8 Eosinophilia
- 22.3.9 Histiocytosis
- 22.4 Lymphoid disease
- 22.5 Bone marrow failure
- 22.6 Erythroid disorders
- 22.7 Haemostasis
- 22.8 Transfusion and transplantation
- Section 23 Disorders of the skin
- Section 24 Neurological disorders
- Section 25 Disorders of the eye
- Section 26 Psychiatric and drug-related disorders
- Section 27 Forensic medicine
- Section 28 Sport and exercise medicine
- Section 29 Biochemistry in medicine
- Section 30 Acute medicine
(p. 5254) Eosinophilia
- Chapter:
- (p. 5254) Eosinophilia
- Author(s):
Peter F. Weller
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780198746690.003.0520
Eosinophilia (eosinophil count >0.45 × 109/litre) is associated with some infections, some allergic diseases, and a variety of other conditions, sometimes neoplastic. Parasitic diseases—eosinophilia is a characteristic feature of infection by multicellular helminth parasites (e.g. Strongyloides stercoralis) with diagnosis typically based on geographical/dietary history, serological tests, and examination of stool or tissues for parasite forms. Other diseases—eosinophilia can be caused by the fungal disease coccidioidomycosis, and modest eosinophilia may accompany retroviral infections such as HIV and HTLV-1. Common allergic diseases—asthma, rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis are associated with modest eosinophilia. Drug reactions—these are a frequent cause of eosinophilia, at times in reactions characterized by rashes and pyrexia. More severe reactions may also manifest with (1) pulmonary eosinophilia and lung infiltrates; (2) interstitial nephritis; (3) hepatitis; (4) myocarditis; (5) drug-induced hypersensitivity vasculitis; (6) gastroenterocolitis; and (7) DRESS syndrome. Other conditions—these include (1) eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis; (2) hyper-IgE syndromes; (3) chronic myeloid leukaemia, acute myeloid leukaemia, and lymphoma; (4) a variety of pulmonary, skin, gastrointestinal, and endocrine diseases. Hypereosinophilic syndromes are defined by (1) eosinophilia (>1.5 × 109/litre) sustained over a month, (2) lack of an identifiable cause precipitating a secondary eosinophilia, and (3) symptoms and signs of organ involvement. About 30% of patients will have either a myeloproliferative condition (chronic eosinophilic leukaemia) or hypereosinophilia mediated by clonal expansion of specific T cells producing interleukin-5 (IL-5). Treatment—patients without organ damage do not require treatment. Aside from supportive care, chronic eosinophilic leukaemia may respond to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (e.g. imatinib), and nonmyeloproliferative hypereosinophilic syndrome may respond to high-dose corticosteroids, with hydroxyurea, interferon-α or anti-IL-5 monoclonal antibody used in refractory cases.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Section 1 Patients and their treatment
- Section 2 Background to medicine
- Section 3 Cell biology
- Section 4 Immunological mechanisms
- Section 5 Principles of clinical oncology
- Section 6 Old age medicine
- Section 7 Pain and palliative care
- Section 8 Infectious diseases
- Section 9 Sexually transmitted diseases
- Section 10 Environmental medicine, occupational medicine, and poisoning
- Section 11 Nutrition
- Section 12 Metabolic disorders
- Section 13 Endocrine disorders
- Section 14 Medical disorders in pregnancy
- Section 15 Gastroenterological disorders
- Section 16 Cardiovascular disorders
- Section 17 Critical care medicine
- Section 18 Respiratory disorders
- Section 19 Rheumatological disorders
- Section 20 Disorders of the skeleton
- Section 21 Disorders of the kidney and urinary tract
- Section 22 Haematological disorders
- 22.1 Introduction to haematology
- 22.2 Haematopoiesis
- 22.3 Myeloid disease
- 22.3.1 Granulocytes in health and disease
- 22.3.2 Myelodysplastic syndromes
- 22.3.3 Acute myeloid leukaemia
- 22.3.4 Chronic myeloid leukaemia
- 22.3.5 The polycythaemias
- 22.3.6 Thrombocytosis and essential thrombocythaemia
- 22.3.7 Primary myelofibrosis
- 22.3.8 Eosinophilia
- 22.3.9 Histiocytosis
- 22.4 Lymphoid disease
- 22.5 Bone marrow failure
- 22.6 Erythroid disorders
- 22.7 Haemostasis
- 22.8 Transfusion and transplantation
- Section 23 Disorders of the skin
- Section 24 Neurological disorders
- Section 25 Disorders of the eye
- Section 26 Psychiatric and drug-related disorders
- Section 27 Forensic medicine
- Section 28 Sport and exercise medicine
- Section 29 Biochemistry in medicine
- Section 30 Acute medicine