The eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome associated with ingestion of l-tryptophan

✍ Scribed by Lawrence E. Shulman

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 484 KB
• Volume: 33
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780330701

✦ Synopsis

physicians in New Mexico notified the New Mexico Department of Health and Environment of 3 patients with marked eosinophilia and severe. incapacitating myalgia who had been taking the amino acid L-tryptophan (orally) and whose illness, after thorough clinical evaluation, seemed both unusual and obscure ( I ) . The health department promptly launched an active search for more cases by reviewing eosinophil counts in laboratones; by November 13.30 cases had been uncovered. Health department staff had also promptly reported the information to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. On November 9. CDC personnel contacted all state health departments to alert them to this newly recognized syndrome. The CDC and the state health departments then launched a state-based national surveillance system, utilizing a standard casereport form and the following case definition: 1) eosinophil count > 1 ,000/mm3. 2) generalized, debilitating myalgia. and 3) no evidence of infection (e.g., trichinosis) or neoplasm that would explain either the eosinophilia or the myalgia.

The state departments issued their own alerts. and the press and the media responded with interest. A public advisory notice was issued. The Food and Drug