[Eosinophilic gastroenteritis as an allergic reaction to a trimethoprim-sulfonamide preparation]

One week after treatment of a urinary infection with co-trimoxazole (twice daily 160 mg trimethoprim and 800 mg sulphamethoxazole) a 21-year-old man suddenly started to vomit, accompanied by watery diarrhoea, abdominal swelling and weight loss of 5 kg. Plain X-ray film of the abdomen while standing showed multiple fluid levels in the small intestine of the upper and lower abdomen. Serum IgE concentration was elevated to 325 U/ml. There was a leukocytosis of 25,800/microliters, with a differential count of 45% eosinophils. Protein-rich ascites contained numerous eosinophils and the mucosa of the terminal ileus and the duodenum was infiltrated with eosinophils, findings which indicated eosinophilic gastroenteritis. All symptoms regressed completely within 10 days of stopping co-trimoxazole and administering prednisolone (50 mg/day). Four years later a similar episode of eosinophilic gastroenteritis developed after the patient had taken trimethoprim with a sulphonamide (once daily 180 mg trimethoprim and 820 mg sulphadiazine). It again quickly responded to short-term administration of glucocorticoids.