Evaluation of eosinopenia as a diagnostic and prognostic indicator in COVID‐19 infection

Abstract

Eosinophils are granulocytes that have potent pro-inflammatory effects and have been shown to participate in inflammation, immunoregulation and host defence against many diseases including viral infections. Eosinopenia is defined as a reduced number of circulating eosinophils in peripheral blood. Eosinopenia has been observed during infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19. 1 In some studies, eosinopenia is reported to be associated with worsening of respiratory symptoms. 1 There has been recent interest in the role of eosinopenia as a diagnostic and prognostic indicator for COVID-19. [2][3][4] The role of eosinopenia as an early diagnostic indicator for COVID-19 infection becomes extremely important because during pandemics resources are limited, and an early decision on patient triaging and isolation, till the time nucleic acid confirmation is done, becomes extremely useful.The cause for eosinopenia in COVID-19 is not exactly clear but it is most likely to be multifactorial like reduced production and

Clinical usefulness of eosinopenia in differentiating COVID-19 versus other flu-like illness in outpatient set-up

“…Our findings of eosinopenia, increased CRP and lymphopenia in all suspected patients can be used as a supplement in the routine outpatient set-up as these tests are readily available and are cost-effective and time-consuming. Eosinopenia can be considered as a reliable early diagnostic marker for COVID-19 infection (10) which is in line with our study. A cut-off level of 10/μL eosinopenia can be considered as a useful test in suspected COVID-19 patients with negative PCR and suspicious chest CT (11) which is also evident in our study.…”

Genome‐scale metabolic modelling of SARS‐CoV‐2 in cancer cells reveals an increased shift to glycolytic energy production

“…Eotaxin has the potential to act as a marker to predict disease severity and outcome. Although it is seen to progressively elevate in patients with mild symptoms, eosinopenia has been detected in patients with severe disease with a subsequent increase being associated with a good outcome [ 93 , 94 , 95 ]. AGP is an acute‐phase protein, and plasma levels of AGP have previously been found to be correlated with influenza disease progression and could be a potential novel biomarker for SARS‐CoV‐2 disease progression [ 96 ].…”

Evaluation of hematological parameters as an indicator of disease severity in Covid‐19 patients: Pakistan's experience

“…COVID-19 leads to variation in the hematological parameters, including lymphocytes, white blood cells, platelets, neutrophils, etc. [12][13][14] These variations are different from case to case and level of the disease severity. Lymphopenia has been previously reported in about 35%-85% of patients and was the most common blood count abnormality.…”