Is pulmonary eosinophilia asthma?

0 votes
asked Feb 22, 2024 in Diseases Conditions by Critterville (1,920 points)
Is pulmonary eosinophilia asthma?

1 Answer

0 votes
answered Jul 9, 2024 by Alexxa12901 (13,130 points)
Pulmonary eosinophilia is not asthma although pulmonary eosinophilia can lead to asthma called Eosinophilic asthma which is a type of asthma that is caused by high levels of white blood cells called eosinophils in the airways of your lungs.

The purpose of the eosinophils is to help the body fight infections but sometimes the body produces too many of the eosinophils.

Simple pulmonary eosinophilia, also known as Loeffler syndrome, is a rare, temporary (transient) respiratory disorder characterized by the accumulation of eosinophils in the lungs (pulmonary eosinophilia).

The antibiotic that is best for eosinophilia is penicillin and cephalosporins.

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib, the first and only drug approved for hypereosinophilic syndrome, can be an effective treatment to reduce blood eosinophil levels, but only for people who harbor genetic alterations that involve fusion genes that result in hypereosinophilic syndrome.

Eosinophilia has been observed in cancer, including colorectal, breast, ovarian, cervical, oral squamous, Hodgkin's lymphoma and prostate cancer.

The level of eosinophils that indicate leukemia is 1.5 x 109 /L or higher that lasts over time.

Lung eosinophilia is infiltration of eosinophils into the lung compartments constituting airways, interstitium, and alveoli.

Several different types of infections, drugs, parasites, autoimmune processes, malignancies, and obstructive lung diseases have been associated with increased eosinophils in the lungs.

Symptoms of eosinophilia can include weight loss, fevers, night sweats, fatigue, cough, chest pain, swelling, stomachache, rash, pain, weakness, confusion, and coma.

Additional symptoms of this syndrome depend on which organs are damaged.

Processes known to cause modest eosinophilia include allergic disease, parasitic disease, drug allergy, and mastocytosis.

More significant eosinophilia is often caused by drug allergy, aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease, sustained and significant atopic dermatitis, and some parasitic disorders.

Parasites and allergies to medicines are common causes of eosinophilia.

Hypereosinophilia can cause organ damage.

This is called hypereosinophilic syndrome.

The cause for this syndrome is often unknown.

Over 500 eosinophils per microliter of blood is thought to be eosinophilia in adults.

Over 1,500 is thought to be hypereosinophilia if the count remains high for many months.

Eosinophilia is uncommon in healthy individuals, however, it is associated with allergies, helminth infections and some inflammatory states.

Eosinophilia has also been observed in cancer, including colorectal, breast, ovarian, cervical, oral squamous, Hodgkin's lymphoma and prostate cancer.

108,713 questions

117,666 answers

1,358 comments

7,058,495 users

...