Familial eosinophilia: the parasitology help to their diagnosis

It has been observed, at the turn of the century, that members of some fami lies showed a peripheral blood hypereosinophilia. Despite all possible inve stigations at that time, it was not possible to link it up with a known and well established disease. It was named a family acquired eosinophilia much greater than by Di Gugliebmo. Nowadays, it has been established that some congenital defects such as the Omenn syndrome and the Wiskott-Aldrich syndr ome are associed with hypereosinophilia. Eosinophilia is well known as a si gn of allergy, but contaminations with helminths are an important cause of familial hypereosinophilia In a case of familial distomatosis by Fasciola h epatica, several members of the same family were infected after eating wild cress. An epidemiological study. was carried out on 22 families whose seve ral members in a same family had an hypereosinophilia, a parasitosis was se rologically diagnosed using such methods as immunoelectrophoresis, Elisa or Western-blot. Among these 22 families, 10 had contracted fascioliasis and 4 who had eaten contaminated horse meat contracted trichinosis. For some ot her families, eosinophilia was not well documented, it concerned cysticerco sis for 3 couples after eating meat of raw pork, one family,with instestina l distomatosis to F buski after consumption of aquatic plants and lastly to xocarosis, zoonosis whose contamination is acquired by geophagy but also by eating raw vegetables (salad),fruit (strawberries) and by drinking contami nated,rater, affected 5 families. In one family, anisakiasis with hypereosi nophilia had been contracted by eating raw fish. In another one, trichostro ngyloidiasis was contracted by eating raw vegetables from the family garden . The diagnosis is often oriented, for the members of a same family, who ar e asymptomatic or pauci-symptomatic, by the blood cell count that shows an hypereosinophila. Furthermore, a collective outbreak of strongyloidiasis ep idemic among 115 individuals by oral route is reported, showing, that such a way of transmission is possible.