Clinical Characteristics and Factors Influencing the Occurrence of Acute Eosinophilic Pneumonia in Korean Military Personnel

Acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP) is an uncommon inflammatory lung disease, and limited data exist concerning the clinical characteristics and factors that influence its occurrence. We retrospectively reviewed the records of AEP patients treated at Korean military hospitals between January 2007 and December 2013. In total, 333 patients were identified; their median age was 22 years, and all were men. All patients presented with acute respiratory symptoms (cough, sputum, dyspnea, or fever) and had elevated levels of inflammatory markers including median values of 13,185/microL for white blood cell count and 9.51 mg/dL for C-reactive protein. All patients showed diffuse ground glass opacity/consolidation, and most had pleural effusion (n = 265; 80%) or interlobular septal thickening (n = 265; 85%) on chest computed tomography. Most patients had normal body mass index (n = 255; 77%), and only 30 (9%) patients had underlying diseases including rhinitis, asthma, or atopic dermatitis. Most patients had recently changed smoking habits (n = 288; 87%) and were Army personnel (n = 297; 89%).The AEP incidence was higher in the Army group compared to the Navy or Air Force group for every year (P = 0.002). Both the number of patients and patients with high illness severity (oxygen requirement, intensive care unit admission, and pneumonia severity score class > or = III) tended to increase as seasonal temperatures rose. We describe the clinical characteristics of AEP and demonstrate that AEP patients have recently changed smoking habits and work for the Army. There is an increasing tendency in the numbers of patients and those with higher AEP severity with rising seasonal temperatures.

Esquistossomose com descompensação pulmonar aguda: relato de caso / Acute pulmonary descompensation of the schistosomiasis: case report

JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS: A esquistossomose é uma doença parasitária com acometimento de vários órgãos e embora a doença apresente manifestações graves, na maioria das vezes é assintomática. O objetivo deste estudo foi relatar e discutir o caso de um paciente que apresentou acometimento pulmonar de instalação rápida, como complicação da infecção por Shistosoma mansoni. RELATO DO CASO: Paciente do sexo masculino, 32 anos, negro, solteiro, trabalhador rural, que evoluiu agudamente com tosse seca, anorexia seguida de perda ponderal e dispneia progressiva,associado à intensa eosinofilia e achado do Shistosoma mansoni no exame parasitológico de fezes.CONCLUSÃO: Trata-se de uma doença, inicialmente assintomática, que pode evoluir para formas clínicas extremamente graves e levar o paciente ao óbito. A magnitude de sua prevalência, associada à gravidade das formas clínicas e a sua evolução,conferem à esquistossomose grande relevância como problema de saúde pública.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease with involvement of many organs, although the disease has severe manifestations, most often is asymptomatic. The aims of this article are report and discuss the case of a patient who had pulmonary involvement of fast onset, as complication of infection Shistosoma mansoni. CASE REPORT: Male patient, 32 years-old, black, single, farml aborer, who acutely developed dry cough, anorexia and weight loss followed by progressive dyspnea, associated with intense eosinophilia and the find the Schistosoma mansoni in parasitological exam. CONCLUSION: It is a disease, initially asymptomatic, which may progress to clinical forms of extremely serious and lead the patient to death. The magnitude of its prevalence, associated with the severity of clinical forms and their evolution, schistosomiasis has a great importance as a public health problem.

Acquired alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency in tropical pulmonary eosinophilia.

Background & objectives: Observation of an increased frequency of an intermediate deficiency of serum alpha1-antitrypsin (α1-AT) in patients with Tropical Pulmonary Eosinophilia (TPE) was earlier reported. Though the possibility of existence of an acquired deficiency was suggested, without phenotyping a hereditary α1-AT deficiency in TPE could not totally be ruled out. In this study, we have done Pi (Protease inhibitor) phenotyping to investigate the possibility of association of any heterozygous (or homozygous) α1-AT deficiency in patients with TPE. Methods: Serum a1antitrypsin (α1-AT) was measured in 103 patients (Group A) with TPE, 99 patients with pulmonary eosinophilia who had associated intestinal worm infestation (Group B) and 43 healthy volunteers who served as controls. In 19 α1-AT deficient patients (9 of Group A and 10 of Group B), α1-AT level was measured before and after treatment. In 58 patients with TPE and in 5 controls, phenotyping was done. Results: Fifteen patients of Group A and 16 from Group B showed intermediate α1-AT deficiency (150 mg % or less. None of the control subjects had α1-AT deficiency (<200 mg%). After treatment with DEC and/or deworming, in 19 patients there was a significant (P < 0.001) rise in α1-AT levels. Results of phenotyping showed that all had M1 or M2 allele and none had S or Z variant (either homozygous or heterozygous) thus ruling out any underlying genetic cause for the observed α1-AT deficiency. Interpretation & conclusions: The observed α1-AT deficiency may be due to the chronic inflammation in TPE and associated oxidative stress. However, in such α1-AT deficient patients with TPE and those with worm infested pulmonary eosinophilia, faecal α1-AT concentration and faecal α1-AT clearance should be routinely estimated to rule out the possibility of any intestinal protein loss.

Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia in a patient undergoing open heart surgery.

A 35 years old male living in Jamalpur district of Bangladesh working as a shopkeeper presented with dyspnea, fatigue, occasional fever and cough for two years. He did not give any history of hemoptysis or weight loss. He was smoker and non-alcoholic. He had a soft systolic murmur over pulmonary area and wide fixed splitting of the second heart sound. An Atrial septal defect (ASD) was detected by echocardiography. The patient had high circulating eosinophil count and Complement Fixation Test for filarial antibody revealed positive result. Moreover the patient's response to drug Diethylcarbamazime indicated suspected tropical pulmonary eosinophilia with Atrial Septal Defect.

Neumonia eosinofilica aguda. Presentación de un caso y revisión de la literatura / Acute eosinophilic pneumonia. Case report and review of literature

Se comunica un caso de enfermedad febril aguda en una mujer de 37 años, fumadora, con infiltrados pulmonares difusos, que evolucionó a insuficiencia respiratoria en 24 hs con necesidad de intubación cuyo único hallazgo positivo fue eosinofilia marcada en el lavado broncoalveolar, sin eosinofilia en sangre periférica. Se diagnosticó Neumonía Eosinfílica Aguda. El tratamiento con metil prednisolona permitió la extubación al segundo día, con mejoría clínica y remisión parcial de los infiltrados radiólogicos. No hubo recurrencia del cuadro en los 2 años posteriores. Describimos este caso de neumonía eosinofilica aguda porque creemos importante su inclusión como diagnóstico diferencial entre las múltiples causas de insuficiencia respiratoria aguda, ya que es una patología potencialmente curable. Se realiza revisión de la literatura, se analizó posibles causas desencadenantes y mecanismos fisiopatogénicos.

Detection of living adult Wuchereria bancrofti in a patient with tropical pulmonary eosinophilia

Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia (TPE) is a relatively unusual and diagnostically challenging manifestation of infection with Wuchereria bancrofti. The pathogenesis of TPE remains unclear, although immune hyperresponsiveness to the microfilarial stage of the parasite is thought to play an essencial role. Microfilariae are almost never detected in the peripheral blood of persons with TPE and living adult worms have not been reported. Thus, no parasitologic marker has existed with which to assess the effectiveness of antifilarial treatment. In 1986, a 74-year old man from Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil, developed classic signs and symptoms of filarial TPE. Within 48 h after beginning treatment with diethylcarbamazine (DEC), the drug of choice for TPE, his symptoms dramatically improved. He remained symptom-free until June 1994, when he again developed signs and symptoms of TPE. To visualize the adult worm and monitor the macrofilaricidal effectiveness of DEC treatment, ultrasound examinations of the scrotal area were performed before, during, and for 6 months after treatment. These examinations revealed diffuse dilatation of the lymphatic vessels of the spermatic cord and movements characteristic of living adult W. bancrofti known as the "filaria dance sign". Although the patient responded clinically to treatment, no change was noted in the filaria dance sign throughout the observation period. Visualization of adult W. bancrofti by ultrasound can be used to monitor the parasitologic effectiveness of treatment for TPE and to explore the relationship between death of the adult worm and recurrence of symptoms.

Angeitis alérgica granulomatosa

Presentamos el caso de una mujer de 38 años con asma, eosinofilia periférica, sinusitis y opacidades interticiales difusas, bilaterales y fugaces en la radiografía de tórax. El procedimiento diagnóstico fue biopsia pulmonar a cielo abierto donde se encontró una vasculitis eosinofilica características del Síndrome de Churg-Strauss. Comentamos los principales hallazgos clínicos, radiológicos e histopatológicos.

Hypereosinophilia in association with pulmonary tuberculosis in a rural population in south India.

In a prospective study conducted in four villages of North Arcot Ambedkar district of Tamil Nadu in south India over a 5 yr period from 1981-86, 279 patients were detected to have pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). Thirty one of them were found to have associated hypereosinophilia (HE) with total blood eosinophil level of > or = 2000 per cumm; besides cough with expectoration they also complained of dyspnoea and wheeze. Twelve of the 18 patients with intestinal parasites had remission with deworming agents alone. The other 6 non responsive patients like the 13 who did not have parasitic infestation, needed treatment with diethylcarbamazine for eosinopenic remission and thus could be classified as patients of tropical pulmonary eosinophilia (TPE). The association of hypereosinopilic state as a whole as well as TPE with tuberculosis as compared to that prevalent in the general population was found to be highly significant (P < 0.001). The frequent association of TPE with tuberculosis as observed by us suggests the possibility of an early hypersensitivity reaction to mycobacterial antigens triggering a florid TPE state in susceptible patients from an area endemic for filariasis. A similar mechanism may also operate in cases of pulmonary eosinophilia induced by other helminths in areas where they are endemic.

Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia presenting as eosinophilic pleural effusion.

A case of tropical pulmonary eosinophilia presenting as an eosinophilic pleural effusion is reported. The condition resolved by treatment with diethylcarbamazine. The patient has been well during the two year follow-up period.

Miocardiopatias restritivas: outro enigma médico / Restrictive myocardiopathies: another enigma medical

Uma atualizaçäo sobre alguns dos aspectos mais expressivos das miocardiopatias restritivas é apresentada. Ela é conceituada como doença cardíaca de causas ainda inteiramente näo conhecidads, mas com um aspecto patológico fundamental - enriquecimento do endo e subendocárdiom por alteraçöes basicamente do colágeno e das estruturas adjacentes. Há, portanto, endurecimento interno uni ou biventricular do coraçäo, com as conseqüências esperadas, especialmente a insuficiência cardíaca congestiva, de término quase que inevitavelmente fatal. Optando-se como classificaçäo e núcleo básico da temática pelo relatório expedido pela OMS, em 1984, deu-se ênfase particular à endomiocardiofibrose (EMF) e e à doença de Lffler. Ambas apresentam similitudes e discordâncias, embora terminem em situaçöes muito análogas e com irreversível insuficiência cardíaca. As semelhanças e diferenças säo analisadas e discutidas no artigo. A maioria dos autores, dedicados ao estudo das miocardiopatias, consideram-nas uma forma mais ou menos grave e progessiva da mesma doença. Consideraçöes especiais e comparativas sobre a EMF e doença de Löffler em seus variados aspectos säo estudadas