Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia

Abstract

Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia is one of the many PIE syndromes [pulmonary infiltrates with eosinophilia (of the peripheral blood)]. It is caused by immunologic hyperresponsiveness to the filarial parasites Wuchereria bancrofti or Brugia malayi. Its clinical presentation includes nocturnal cough, dyspnea, wheezing, fever, weight loss, fatigue, interstitial mottling on chest radiograph, predominantly restrictive but also obstructive lung function abnormalities, and peripheral blood eosinophilia of more than 3000 per microliter. It can be distinguished from other PIE syndromes by the patient's history of residence in the tropics, by the presence of extraordinarily high levels of both serum IgE and antifilarial antibodies, and by the dramatic clinical improvement after treatment with the antifilarial drug diethylcarbamazine. Recent studies indicate that the compromised lung diffusion capacity of patients with acute tropical pulmonary eosinophilia is a function of the degree of the eosinophilic alveolitis present and that, despite a 3-week course of diethylcarbamazine, low-grade alveolitis persists in almost half of such patients; this persistent alveolitis is likely to be the cause of the progressive interstitial fibrosis seen in many untreated or inadequately treated patients with tropical pulmonary eosinophilia.