what does the Eosinophil number mean in the blood test

what does the Esinophil number mean in a blood test and what if it is  low

[Cheri21157]

From my understanding I think the eosinophils have something to do with allergies. At one point my was high and my dr said my blood showed I had a allergy to something. I had it retested a few months later and was told it was normal and no allergies. Hope this helps.
Cheri

[sllowe]

Hi Smith2114,

Thank you for joining us.  Without researching it, I really do not know what the eosinophils show.

Do you have MS? Is there anything else you would like to share with us? If you feel comfortable to, please do so.  We really are a friendly bunch.  

Welcome to you too Cheri!

see you around!

[Fluffysmom]

Hi, Cheri,

I did a search and found some information that Quix wrote about some of my blood work results.  The eosinophils are indeed allergy cells, and it sounds to me like a low number would mean that you aren't very allergic at this time.

Quix is so good at explaining things!  Here you go:

A quick and dirty explanation of what the different cells do.

Neutrophils are the main defense against bacterial infections.  Most of "pus" is made up of dead, spent neutrophils.  So if the percentage of neutrophils is elevated you would think first about some bacterial infection somewhere, like an abcess (abscess), sinusitis, cellulitis or such.  Mind you a 79% percentage of those is not all that elevated.

Lymphocytes are primarly involved in fighting things like viral infections.  When they are elevated you think virus.  Here they went down to compensate for the neutrophils being up.

Eosinophils are the allergy cells.  Usually they are less than 5%, but can go higher like to 15% or so in states of high allergy.  I once got to 20% when I was living in a grove of Mediterreanean Olive Trees and had developed a severe allergy to them.

I hope that helped, Cheri.  Take care.

Kathy

[SickMomma_PDX]

I often have high eosinophils. I've been told that it in addition to an allergic reaction, it is also a marker of inflammation and/or infection sometimes. Eight or ten years ago, my gastroenterologist was worried I had eosinophilic gastroenteritis.

But I have no idea what it means when your eos levels are low.


A low eosinophil level is usually not a cause for concern and is actually quite common. Eosinophils can be too low due to administration of steroids. Steroids are any of a large number of hormone substances with a similar and basic chemical structure. Hormones are natural chemicals produced by the body and released into the blood that have a specific effect on tissues in the body.

Hope that helps!!

--SM

[Quixotic1]

Low Eos are of no clinical importance.  Don't worry about it at all.

Q

[smith21144]

Yes, I have SLE for last 10 years and I was just looking at some of the answers on my blood test that are showing either lower or higher then they should be