TROPICAL EOSINOPHILS WITH REPORT OF A CASE TREATED WITH PENICILLIN *

SEVERAL articles and case reports have recently appeared in the literature con-cerning this disease which was first described in 1919,5 and was given the name tropical eosinophilia by Weingartenl who in 1943 reported 81 cases. Since then all reported cases have been successfully treated with organic arsenical drugs. The disease is characterized by lassitude, fever, anorexia, weight loss, and cough. The latter occurs characteristically in the early morning hours between 1 and 5 a.m. and is accompanied by asthmatic wheezing. Later dyspnea and orthopnea develop. A marked eosinophilia is present, sometimes reaching as high as 70 to 80 per cent, together with a leukocytosis. There is a relative as well as absolute increase in eosinophiles, all of which appear to be normal mature forms. If the disease remains untreated, it becomes chronic. Weingarten's series of cases was observed in the coastal regions of India around Bombay. One of them fortuitously contracted syphilis and was given specific treatment with neoarsphenamine, following which his hypereosinophilia subsided to normal. As a result of this observation, Weingarten treated simila