Day #314 - Pulmonary Eosinophilia

Very complex case facilitated by an expert discussant. The key focus, other than on the case at hand was a demonstration of clinical reasoning and Bayes theorem.

We highlighted the importance of Occam's Razor -- but stressed the importance of recognizing Hickam's dictum.

I have previously blogged about pulmonary eosinophilia here (with references). In my mind, an important consideration in this patient (given travel to China) is to exclude disseminated strongyloidiasis because like infliximab related interstitial lung disease (NEJM article here) 'strongy' can appear to improve on steroids.

This is a recent review from the Lancet on TNF-alpha blockade and the interaction with tuberculosis.

NB: Review of radiographic manifestations of pulmonary TB.