Role of the eosinophil count in discriminating the severity of community-acquired pneumonia in HIV-infected patients

Abidi and colleagues recently reported that eosinopenia constitutes a good diagnostic marker in distinguishing between noninfection and infection, but is a moderate marker in discriminating between systemic inflammatory response syndrome and infection in newly admitted critically ill patients [1]. They propose that eosinopenia may become a helpful clinical tool in intensive care unit (ICU) practices. They included different types of severe infections, however, and therefore the utility of eosinopenia for a particular kind of infection is not approached.