Eosinophilia and the Seroprevalence of Schistosomiasis and Strongyloidiasis in Newly Arrived Pediatric Refugees: An Examination of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Screening Guidelines

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published refugee health guidelines that recommend examination of the absolute eosinophil count (AEC) to screen for asymptomatic schistosomiasis and strongyloidiasis. We examined the predictive validity of an AEC > 400 cells/mu L to identify refugees with serologic evidence for schistosomiasis or strongyloidiasis. Our study revealed that eosinophilia was not predictive of serologic evidence of either a Schistosoma species or Strongyloides stercoralis infection in the pediatric refugees examined in this study. (J Pediatr 2010;156:1016-8)