This parameter is encountered only by those who have to take a detailed blood test from a finger. In emergency cases, ESR values are of interest - the rate of formation of red blood cells, white blood cells - to determine the presence of an inflammatory process and the level of hemoglobin in the blood. The fact that eosinophils are elevated in children, parents sometimes may not even know or even know what eosinophils are.
Eosinophils
Eosinophils are bassoon cells from the leukocyte group, mainly consisting of immunoglobulin E. They create a protective barrier in the fight against many diseases, which include infectious, systemic and parasitic pathogens.
If, with a normal white blood cell count, eosinophils are elevated in a child, the reasons can be identified as follows:
- all kinds of allergies and bronchial asthma;
- chorea;
- colitis of various etiologies;
- skin diseases;
- recovery periods from infectious diseases;
- diseases caused by the presence of parasites.
Very often, children become infected with worms from pets.
Eosinophils can also be elevated in children during the course of childhood infections and with blood diseases.
After being released into the blood, these protective cells exist there in active form for up to 2 weeks; the hormonal system in the adrenal glands is responsible for their number.
Additional examinations
If the rest of the indicators, except for eosinophils, are normal, and the leukocyte cells themselves have not much exceeded the normal value, then you should not panic. Level may vary throughout the day. Tests are most often done in the morning, on an empty stomach. And it is then that the maximum number of eosinophils in the blood is present. The procedure is repeated and then the result is already viewed.
Eosinophils are believed to be elevated in children when, in several analyzes, their blood levels are more than 7–8% at the age of two years and 5-6% at the age of more than 2 years.
If the values are seriously exceeded, additional examinations are offered. If a child has recently been ill with a viral infection, then blood tests are postponed for at least 3 months, and feces for worm eggs can be tested immediately. This analysis may have to be submitted several times. Parasites and their eggs are not always present in the feces, they have a well-established life cycle.
Not every parent is able to torment a child by collecting bile to determine the presence of opisthorchiasis in the body. Moreover, the presence of parasite eggs in the bile ducts is also detected 5 weeks after infection and is cyclical.
Treatment
With the help of tests and examinations, it is usually possible to identify why eosinophils are elevated in a child. Treatment is prescribed only if circumstances so require.
You can not leave helminthic infestations without therapy, parasites must be disposed of after detection. It is also worth taking care of a special diet for the baby if the increase in eosinophils was caused by ulcerative colitis or intestinal disease of a different etiology. It is definitely worth clarifying what medical intervention is required if diseases associated with impaired blood formation have been identified.
If there is bronchial asthma or chorea, then you will have to put up with elevated eosinophils and monitor their level in dynamics.
In some chronic diseases, the fact that eosinophils are elevated in children does not require attention. For this state - this is the norm.