title: Eosinophilia in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus.
abstract: Patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) frequently are said to have eosinophilia. To evaluate this assumption, the differential blood cell counts of 855 HIV-infected patients were examined over 4 years. All differential cell lines in the HIV-infected population were less than those in a noninfected control group, but the difference was much less pronounced for eosinophils than for the other blood cell components. For HIV-infected patients, the eosinophil count increased and the other blood cell components decreased as the CD4 cell count decreased. The increase in eosinophils was the result of eosinophilia in a subgroup of patients and a preservation of that cell line for the other patients. No etiologic agent was associated with eosinophilia; hence, HIV infection itself may induce proliferation of eosinophils while other cell components are declining.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine 11794-8153, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Steigbigel
mesh_terms: D001772:Blood Cell Count; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D004802:Eosinophilia / Q000150:complications*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans