The significance of eosinophilia in blister fluids and peripheral blood in pemphigus vulgaris.

During the course of earlier investigations (1, 2) the author observed the existence of a high proportion of eosinophil leukocytes in the cell content of fluid aspirated from bullae in pemphigus vulgaris. In order to understand the significance of the observation it was necessary to determine the effect of those coexisting factors which might be regarded as having an influence upon the eosinophil count in the blister fluid and which could be measured. The factual data of the study are presented under the heading of these factors, which inelude: a. The presence of bacteria in the fluid. b. The proportion of eosinophils in the peripheral blood. c. The length of the interval between the time of appearance and aspiration of the bulla. This is regarded as the age of the lesion. d. The length of the interval between the time of aspiration of the bulla and the death of the patient. e. The leukocyte count in the peripheral blood. The paper concludes with a discussion of the factual data in relation to the virus etiology of the disease (3).