Increased eosinophil activity in acute Plasmodium falciparum infection—association with cerebral malaria

To assess the eosinophil response to Plasmodium falciparum infection a cohort of initially parasite‐free Ghanaian children was followed for 3 months. Seven of nine children who acquired an asymptomatic P. falciparum infection showed increase in eosinophil counts, while a decrease was found in seven...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical and experimental immunology 1998-05, Vol.112 (2), p.303-307
Main Authors: KURTZHALS, J. A. L, REIMERT, C. M, TETTE, E, DUNYO, S. K, KORAM, K. A, AKANMORI, B. D, NKRUMAH, F. K, HVIID, L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Biomarkers
Blood Proteins - metabolism
cerebral malaria
Child
Cohort Studies
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
eosinophil cationic protein
Eosinophil Granule Proteins
eosinophil protein X
Eosinophil-Derived Neurotoxin
eosinophils
Eosinophils - immunology
Eosinophils - parasitology
Human protozoal diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Inflammation Mediators - metabolism
Interleukin-5 - metabolism
Longitudinal Studies
Malaria
Malaria, Cerebral - immunology
Medical sciences
Original
Parasitic diseases
Plasmodium falciparum
Protozoal diseases
Ribonucleases
Tropical medicine
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Summary:To assess the eosinophil response to Plasmodium falciparum infection a cohort of initially parasite‐free Ghanaian children was followed for 3 months. Seven of nine children who acquired an asymptomatic P. falciparum infection showed increase in eosinophil counts, while a decrease was found in seven of nine children with symptomatic malaria, and no change was observed in 14 children who remained parasite‐free. In a hospital‐based study, paediatric patients with cerebral malaria (CM), severe anaemia (SA), or uncomplicated malaria (UM) had uniformly low eosinophil counts during the acute illness followed by eosinophilia 30 days after cure. Plasma levels of eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) and eosinophil protein X (EPX) were measured as indicators of eosinophil activation. In spite of the low eosinophil counts, ECP levels were increased on day 0 and significantly higher in patients with CM (geometric mean (95% confidence interval) 8.5 ng/ml (6.8–10.7 ng/ml)) than in SA (4.7 ng/ml (3.0–7.5 ng/ml)) and UM patients (4.3 ng/ml (3.6–5.3 ng/ml), P 
ISSN:0009-9104
1365-2249
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2249.1998.00586.x