National Eosinophil Awareness Week provides an opportunity to recap some of the progress being made against a severe form of food-related allergy.

HOW DOES COVID-19 AFFECT PEOPLE WITH EOE?

There are key COVID-19–related questions concerning eosinophils whose answers affect recommended prevention and care, says Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD, Director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology.

Do patients with eosinophilia-associated diseases have an altered course of COVID-19? Do patients with eosinopenia (now intentionally induced by biological drugs) have unique COVID-19 susceptibility and/or disease course?

Read more in this publication appearing April 25, 2020, in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: Eosinophil Responses During COVID-19 Infections and Coronavirus Vaccination

In addition to Rothenberg, Cincinnati Children’s co-authors were: Andrew Lindsley, MD, PhD, and Justin Schwartz, MD, PhD.

Stay tuned for more new EoE research, currently in preprint stages.

CALL FOR DATA SHARING

The recent surge in cases of COVID-19 throughout the world and its severe impact on global healthcare have highlighted the need for the rapid accumulation of data pertaining to subpopulations infected with the virus in order to allow for the development of disease/treatment-specific clinical recommendations, Rothenberg says.

A platform has been developed to collect information on patients previously diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) and Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Diseases (EGID) who are under high suspicion or confirmed with a diagnosis of COVID-19.

Surveillance Epidemiology of Coronavirus Under Research Exclusion (SECURE-EoE/EGID) is an international, pediatric and adult database to monitor and report on outcomes of COVID-19 occurring in EoE/EGID patients. We encourage practitioners world-wide to report ALL confirmed cases (including asymptomatic cases identified through public health screening) and severe cases for whom COVID-19 has not been confirmed because of the lack of available testing (these will be listed as unconfirmed in the questionnaire).

Reporting a case should take approximately five minutes. Click here to report a case of COVID-19 in an EoE/EGID patient

UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF EOSINOPHILIC ESOPHAGITIS: A NEW CHILDREN’S BOOK

John lives in Pennsylvania with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). He has burning pain in his throat for an hour or two after he eats specific foods. It hurts very badly, and John finds a new food every day that causes his throat problems.

In this new book, John and his friends go on a quest to find out what researchers have discovered about EoE. Copies are available at bit.ly/UNLOCKEOE .  All proceeds go toward Cincinnati Children’s and the continuing efforts of Rothenberg and colleagues to seek a cure for EOE.

This project is supported by an Odyssey Fellowship of the PA Distance Learning Charter School, made possible through a partnership with Grow a Generation.

LEARN MORE ABOUT EOE RESEARCH

• Rothenberg CURED Laboratory
• EGIDExpress (access to Rothenberg Lab Data)
• Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders
• Rothenberg CURED Research Laboratory Facebook Site
• Consortium of Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers 
• Eosinophilic Gastritis Benralizumab Study
• What is EoE? (click here for Spanish version)
• 2019 Allergy/Immunology Highlights