Eosinophilia, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

Eosinophilia is a condition where there is an abnormally large amount of eosinophils in the blood or body tissues.
Eosinophilia is a peripheral eosinophil count higher than the upper limit of normal range, usually around 0.45 x 109/L.
In many cases the reason of the cause is obvious - e.g., atopic disease.
1. Eosinophilia is most frequently due to allergic conditions.
2. Helminth infections are the second most frequent cause of eosinophilia.
3. Travel history to evaluate whether a patient has traveled to an area that is endemic for certain infections, especially helminthic infections.
4. Medication and diet history to assess for allergic reactions linked with eosinophilia.
5. History of symptoms linked with possible underlying causes.
A complete medical examination is needed because diseases linked with eosinophilia can involve any part of the body.
Diagnosis is based on the history, examination, and clinical picture:
1. FBC, including differential white cell count.
2. Renal function tests, LFTs.
3. Urine tests: all patients with blood eosinophilia and hematuria and who have been in Africa should have their urine examined for the eggs of Schistosoma hematobium.
4. Cystoscopy may be needed to confirm the diagnosis.
5. Lumbar puncture: CSF eosinophilia due to worm parasitic infections (e.g., Angiostrongylus cantonensis), drug reactions, and coccidioidomycosis meningitis.
6. CT scans of the lungs, abdomen, pelvis, and brain assess for focal defects due to diverse causes of eosinophilia such as:
a. Worm infections of the liver (e.g., Fasciola hepatica)
Treatment:
After a proper diagnosis, the doctor will try to find the cause in that specific case.
A few simple skin or blood tests may be done further to show specific allergies like pollen or dust mite allergy.
Parasitic infection can be found by analyzing blood and stool samples.
Any new medication taken by the patient is checked if it is a side effect.
Once the cause has been found, the treatment is specially done to remove the underlying disorder whether it is an allergy, medical reaction or parasitic infection.
In the case of hyper-eosinophilic syndrome, oral corticosteroid therapy (a derivative of natural hormones that the body causes to limit inflammatory responses) is given.
If that does not work, a immunosuppressant agent is given.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Eosinophilia
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Allergies
Chapter 8 Asthma
Epilogue

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Oct 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370916887

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

Eosinophilia,

A

Simple

Guide

To

The Condition,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2015 Smashwords Edition

Published By Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes the Eosinophilia, Diagnosis, Treatment and Related Conditions or in vernacular terms

(What You Need to treat Eosinophilia)

This eBook is licensed for the personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Condition) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiolographical account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://ken-med.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 590 amazon kindle books and some into Smashwords.com eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical conditions.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring you the latest information about a condition or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Eosinophilia

Eosinophilia may not seem a dangerous illness when it is present as the only cause of the medical illness that happened to my middle aged patient 2 weeks ago.

After about 50 years free from asthma and severe allergic rhinitis, he had a severe attack of asthma and rhinitis for almost 2 months before he consulted me.

Even with medication from other general practitioners, he was so breathless that he was unable to sleep at night.

Most nights he sat on the floor gasping for breath while using hundreds of paper tissues to dry his dripping nose.

Antihistamines and bronchodilators had little effect on him.

He eventually fell asleep sitting down with blankets covering him and hanging on to the side of the beds.

Only when mornings come did he feel better although he was still breathless and his nose still dripped.

He was taken to the doctor every morning for an injection of aminophylline and antihistamine which reduced his symptoms partially.

In the end when he saw me he had lost 2 kgs of weight and was so exhausted that he can hardly keep his eyes open.

I decided to start him on corticosteroids which appeared to reduce his symptoms especially at night.

Eventually I forced him to take a chest X-rays and complete blood tests including tumor markers to exclude any possible cancer.

His chest x-rays and blood tests were normal but his eosinophils were particularly high >5,000 eosinophils/microL.

Stool tests for ova and blood were normal and more likely eliminate any parasitic disease.

Eosinophils are particularly high in allergic conditions and in parasitic infections.

I had his air conditioners cleaned to exclude any dust or mites that may cause him any allergy.

He was also told to avoid any herbs or Chinese medicines.

He was also told to use ventolin (reliever) and steroid (preventer) inhalers.

He had since then improved and his steroid tablets dosage had been reduced.

Eosinophil consists of a form of white blood cell which is produced in the bone marrow, and normally circulated in the bloodstream and gut lining.

Eosinophils have proteins that assist the body fight infectious organisms: in case of some diseases, the proteins occurring in eosinophils can injure the body

Eosinophils can take a part in the body's immune response.

They can also increase the antibodies and raise the inflammation.

The blood normally does not have a large