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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffEosinophils play two roles in your immune system:
- Destroying foreign substances. Eosinophils can consume foreign substances — particularly substances related to infection with a parasite — that have been "flagged" for destruction by other components of your immune system.
- Regulating inflammation. Eosinophils help promote inflammation, which plays a beneficial role in isolating and controlling a disease site, but inflammation can also damage tissues. Immune system disorders, such as allergies, can contribute to ongoing (chronic) inflammation. Eosinophils are key players in inflammation associated with allergies and asthma.
Eosinophilia occurs when either a large number of eosinophils are recruited to a specific site in your body or bone marrow produces too many eosinophils. Specific diseases and conditions that can result in blood or tissue eosinophilia include:
- Ascariasis
- Asthma
- Atopic dermatitis (eczema)
- Chronic myelogenous leukemia
- Churg-Strauss syndrome
- Crohn's disease
- Drug allergy
- Eosinophilic leukemia
- Hay fever
- Hodgkin's lymphoma (Hodgkin's disease)
- Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES), an extremely high eosinophil count of unknown origin
- Lupus
- Lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic infection
- Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Other cancers
- Other parasitic infections
- Ovarian cancer
- Primary immunodeficiency
- Scarlet fever
- Trichinosis
- Ulcerative colitis
Causes shown here are commonly associated with this symptom. Work with your doctor or other health care professional for an accurate diagnosis.
