How High is Too High? The Diagnostic Value of Absolute Eosinophil Count in Excluding Parasitic Infection

Clicks: 89
ID: 326548
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #192 of 635 articles by views in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 635 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Whereas most recommendations for evaluation of eosinophilic patients list exclusion of parasitic infections as an initial step, this proves difficult in practice due to the lack of sensitive and specific testing. The aim of the current study was to explore the utility of peak absolute eosinophil count (AEC) and serum IgE in distinguishing parasitic from non-parasitic causes of marked eosinophilia. METHODS: Patients with peak AEC ≥500/µL enrolled on NIH protocols for suspected parasitic disease or eosinophilia between January 1, 1974 and July 30, 2024 were included in this retrospective chart review. Archived sera were retested with species-specific serologies to clarify parasitic diagnoses when indicated. RESULTS: A total of 1,025 patients (907 adults; 118 children) were included, of which 360 were diagnosed with a parasitic infection. Median peak AEC was significantly lower in adults and children with parasitic infections compared to those with non-parasitic diagnoses; only 2 patients with parasitic infections (both children with visceral larva migrans (VLM)) had an AEC >30,000/µL. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis identified an AEC cutoff of 28,680/µL in adults and 59,529 cells/µL in children for exclusion of parasitic infection with near 100% specificity. In adults, parasitic diagnoses decreased and malignancy-associated eosinophilia increased with rising AEC (χ2_trend=84.69, P<0.0001). Serum IgE levels were highly variable across all diagnoses and therefore lack clinical relevance. CONCLUSION: Most parasitic infections are associated with mild or moderate eosinophilia. AEC >30,000/µL is rarely due to parasitic infection and should prompt expedited evaluation for non-infectious causes, particularly malignancy and hypereosinophilic syndromes.
Reference Key
openalex_W7204278859 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Jessica Bass, Evgenii Filippov, Joseph Kubofcik, Michelle Makiya, Miranda Yu, Lauren Wetzler, JeanAnne Ware, Perla Adames Castillo, Michelle Luera, Thomas Brown, Lori Penrod, Thomas B. Nutman, Elise M. O'Connell, Amy Klion
Are you one of these authors? Claim your profile
Journal Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/cid/ciag513
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciag513
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.