Infections |
Parasitic | Common worldwide | Moderate to high | |
Bacterial | Rare | | Usually cause eosinopenia, although serum ECP levels may be raised, suggesting eosinophil involvement in tissue. |
Mycobacterial | Rare | | More often secondary to drug therapy. |
Invasive fungal | Unusual | | Apart from allergic reactions, which are common, and coccidioidomycosis, in which as many as 88% of patients have an eosinophilia. |
Rickettsial infections | Rare | | |
Fungi | Rare | | Cryptococcus reported as causing CSF eosinophilia. |
Viral infections | Rare | | There are occasional case reports of an eosinophilia in a variety of viral infections, including herpes and HIV infection. |
Allergic diseases |
Allergic rhinitis | Common worldwide | Mild | |
Atopic dermatitis | Common especially children | Mild to moderate | |
Urticaria/angioedema | Common | Variable | Eosinophilia seen in skin even with normal blood count. |
Fungal allergy | Common | Mild to high | Immunoglobulin (Ig) E sensitization to thermotolerant colonizing yeast (eg, Candida albicans) and molds (eg, Aspergillus fumigatus) is a common cause of an eosinophilia. |
Asthma | Common | Mild | Syndrome of intrinsic asthma, nasal polyps, and aspirin intolerance are associated with higher-than-usual eosinophil counts. |
Drug reactions |
Many drugs | Uncommon | Mild to high | Antibiotics, NSAIDs, and antipsychotics are the most common groups; count usually returns to normal on stopping drug. |
Neoplasms |
Acute eosinophilic leukemia | Rare | High | |
Acute myelogenous leukemia with marrow eosinophilia | Uncommon | Mild to high in marrow only | Often associated with chromosome 16 abnormalities. |
Chronic eosinophilic leukemia | Rare | High | See text on HES. |
Chronic myelogenous leukemia | Uncommon | Moderate to high | Raised eosinophil counts can be seen uncommonly in chronic myelogenous leukemia. |
Lymphomas | Uncommon | Moderate | Often intense tissue eosinophilia with moderately elevated blood eosinophil count; Hodgkin lymphoma most common type. T-cell lymphomas elaborating IL-5 or other eosinopoietic cytokines. |
Langerhans cell histiocytosis | Uncommon | Mild | Intense tissue eosinophilia in granulomata but blood eosinophilia unusual. |
Solid tumors | Uncommon | Mild to high | Many different tumors reported. | ...