Eosinophils and COVID-19-clinical case of COVID-19 infection in a patient with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis

ABSTRACT

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. COVID-19 is caused by a virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2. The impact of the pandemic has led to significant research on all aspects of the disease, including diagnostic biomarkers, related risk factors and strategies that could be used for its treatment and prevention. To this end, eosinopenia has been identified as one of many factors that could facilitate diagnosis and have prognostic value in cases of severe COVID-19. While eosinophil-associated conditions have been misdiagnosed as COVID-19 and others are among the reported complications, patients with pre-existing eosinophil-associated diseases (e.g. asthma, eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases) do not appear to be at increased risk of severe disease. Interestingly, several recent studies have shown that a diagnosis of asthma may be associated with some degree of protection. We present a 42-year-old patient with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Church-Strauss vasculitis) known for 4 years, who in March 2021 was diagnosed with COVID-19 infection. The disease was presented with manifestations of acute viral infection, with observed post-COVID transient migrating nodules of subcutaneous adipose tissue on the limbs, percentage of eosinophils over 50 and complete recovery.