Objectives: Eosinophilia is a prevalent laboratory abnormality that we encounter in day-to-day practice both in outpatient and inpatient settings. The causes range from primary to secondary spanning from an allergic response to clonal neoplastic proliferations. Identifying an etiology may be challenging in many cases and may sometimes require extensive evaluation. We aimed to find the clinical and etiological profile of patients with eosinophilia and the association of eosinophilia with end-organ involvement and IgE levels. Material and Methods: The study was designed as a cross-sectional study over a period of two years (2019 to 2020). The study setting was outpatient and inpatient medical wards of a tertiary care center in north India. A detailed history and clinical examination were done on patients with eosinophilia detected in blood counts. Standard diagnostic protocols guided by positive clinical and diagnostic tests were followed to find etiologies in patients with eosinophilia. Results: In our study, the most common cause overall and in each category of eosinophilia was parasitic infections (35%) followed by allergic disorders (29.3%). The most frequent symptoms were cough (32%), generalized weakness (25.5%), dyspnoea (24%), and a history suggestive of atopy (21%). On clinical examination, the most common finding was rhonchi or wheeze (24.5%). The most commonly affected end-organ was the lungs (13.2%) followed by the skin (4.7%). Conclusion: Parasitic infections are the most common cause of eosinophilia in our population. IgE levels correlate with a diagnosis of atopy or asthma and do not show a correlation with AEC. The lungs were the most frequently involved as end-organ in eosinophilia followed by the skin. We found no significant association between end-organ involvement and the degree of eosinophilia which highlights the importance of working up symptomatic patients for end-organ damage irrespective of the eosinophil count.

A BSTRACT Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reached a staggering number of almost 280 million cases worldwide, with over 5.4 million deaths as of 29 December 2021. A further understanding of the factors related to the household spread of the infection might help to bring about specific protocols to curb such transmission. Objective: This study aims to find the secondary attack rate (SAR) and factors affecting SAR among the households of mild COVID-19 cases. Methods: An observational study was designed where data of patients admitted at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi due to mild COVID-19 were collected, and outcome was noted after the discharge of the patient. Index cases who were the first in the household to have a positive infection only were included. Based on these data, the overall household SAR, factors related to the index case and contacts that affected transmissibility were noted. Results: A total of 60 index cases having contacts with 184 household members were included in the present study. The household SAR was measured to be 41.85%. At least one positive case was present in 51.67% households. Children below 18 years old had lower odds of getting a secondary infection compared to adults and elderly [odds ratio (OR) = 0.46, 95%CI = 0.22–0.94, p = 0.0383). An exposure period of more than a week was significantly associated with a higher risk of infection (p = 0.029). The rate of transmissibility drastically declined with effective quarantine measures adopted by the index case (OR = 0.13, 95%CI = 0.06–0.26, p < 0.00001). Symptomatic index cases contributed more to the SAR than asymptomatic primaries (OR = 4.74, 95%CI = 1.03–21.82, P = 0.045). Healthcare worker index cases had lower rates of spread (OR = 0.29, 95%CI = 0.15–0.58, P = 0.0003). Conclusion: The high SAR shows the household is a potential high-risk unit for transmissibility of COVID-19. Proper quarantine measures of all those exposed to the index case can mitigate such spread and lead to reduction of risk of COVID-19 within a household.