Eosinophilia with organ involvement in 3 siblings

Abstract

We describe 3 siblings who suffered from marked eosinophilia with organ involvement. One sibling, who experienced cervical lymphadenopathy and peripheral neuropathy with eosinophilia (5,834 cells/μL) following bronchial asthma, was diagnosed with Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) according to the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology. Another sibling, who suffered from severe asthma with persistent polyarthritis and eosinophilia (2,496 cells/μL), was also diagnosed with CSS according to the criteria of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The remaining sibling, who had eosinophilic pleuritis with peripheral blood eosinophilia (699 cells/μL), did not fulfill the widely used criteria for CSS or hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) ; however, he fit the newly proposed criteria for HES. Glucocorticoid treatment relieved their symptoms. Although the diagnoses and the criteria used for diagnosis differed between the siblings, all 3 patients showed common features such as eosinophilia with organ involvement that required treatment, indicating the possibility of familial eosinophilia (FE). Furthermore, the clinical features observed differed substantially from those of previously reported FE patients, therefore, these 3 siblings may be affected by a type of FE distinguishable from those previously described.