It is quite difficult to determine the cause of a prolonged runny nose, which can not be treated with nasal and antibacterial drugs. Frequent or prolonged runny nose in children attending kindergarten can sometimes be considered normal. But when a runny nose lasts for months and is already chronic, it is worth thinking about diagnosing the nature of its occurrence.
A common cause of chronic runny nose in children and adults is allergies. Therefore, in order to determine the etiology of the common cold, it is recommended to make a rhinocytogram, pass smears from the nose to eosinophils.
What is a rhinocytogram?
Rhinocytogram (scraping from the nose) is a procedure that can detect pathogenic microflora of the nasal mucosa. Based on the number of eosinophils identified during the examination, it can be concluded that there is a particular health problem.
The fact is that treating a cold with an allergic nature is fundamentally different from therapy aimed at eliminating a protracted infectious cold, so if there is such a problem, experienced doctors, in addition to a detailed blood test, prescribe a rhinocytogram.
Nasal swabs on eosinophils help the doctor determine the cause of a prolonged runny nose.
Very often, a rhinocytogram is also called an analysis for flora, since the examination determines not only the number of eosinophils, but also other cells present in the nasal cavity.
What are eosinophils
Eosinophils are a subspecies of white blood cells. The presence of these cells is necessary for an adequate immune response of the body in the presence of helminths or foreign agents.
When molecules of the pathogen substance enter the nasal cavity, or an infection begins to develop, it is the eosinophils that rush to the affected organ and cause an inflammatory reaction. This process is inherent in people with increased susceptibility to a certain type of allergen.
In the case of repeated exposure to the pathogen, a response is triggered and a clinical picture is observed with one or a group of signs listed below:
- sneezing
- cough;
- tickle in the nasopharynx;
- copious discharge of mucus from the nose;
- sinus congestion.
Sometimes it is quite difficult to establish the etiology of prolonged rhinitis, therefore, as a simplification of the diagnosis, patients with chronic runny nose are prescribed nasal swabs for eosinophils, which allow obtaining material for rhinocytograms.
How to prepare for a rhinocytogram
There are several rules, compliance with which will help to correctly determine the flora of the nose.
It is necessary to stop taking antibiotics 5 days before delivery of the material to the laboratory.
Two days before collecting the scraping, it is forbidden to use antibacterial ointments, sprays and drops of the steroid type. It is advisable to completely exclude the use of any medications (both in the nasal cavity and externally).
Before the procedure itself, you can not rinse the nasal cavity, even with plain water.
It is also advisable not to brush your teeth or eat 2-3 hours before medical manipulation, you can only drink water.
Deciphering the results
Your task is to pass a nasal swab to eosinophils, deciphering the results and making a diagnosis is up to the attending physician.
In addition to the number of eosinophils in secret, other blood components are taken into account:
- erythrocytes - exceeding the threshold of this fraction in nasal secretion is characteristic of diseases such as flu, diphtheria, and some other infectious diseases;
- lymphocytes - an increase in this indicator in the nasal mucus indicates the course of a chronic infectious inflammatory process of the nasal mucosa;
- neutrophils - an increase in this indicator most often indicates an acute viral or bacterial infection.
Nasal swab for eosinophils: normal and abnormalities
Normally, the number of eosinophils in nasal secretion is zero. This suggests that they should not be in a healthy nasal flora.
Also, the eosinophil count can deviate from the norm both in the direction of increasing their number, and show a negative value.
An increased indicator (by more than 10%) most often indicates that the body has one of the following deviations:
- allergic or non-allergic respiratory diseases;
- periarteritis nodosa;
- bronchial asthma;
- ascariasis or infection with another type of helminth;
- leukemia (the disease is characterized by an increased content of eosinophils not only in the nasal secretion, but also in the blood);
- parasitic infestations.
The deviation of the eosinophil count in the negative side is also called false negative. A negative number of eosinophils indicates:
- vasomotor rhinitis, which appears due to malfunctioning of blood vessels;
- drug rhinitis that appears against the background of prolonged use of vasoconstrictor and steroid drugs;
- runny nose, which is associated with a malfunction of the nervous or endocrine systems.
Nasal swab for eosinophils: the norm in children from 1 to 14 years
A normal level of the content of eosinophils in the nasal secret in a child is considered an indicator from 0.5 to 7%.
A rhinocytogram is considered one of the most painless medical manipulations, so quite often doctors prescribe it to children.
Normal threshold for eosinophils in adults
Knowing the limits of the normal indicator of this fraction will not hurt you if your doctor recommends a series of tests, including passing a nasal swab to eosinophils. The norm in adult men and women, regardless of gender, varies from 0.5 to 5%.
Any deviation from the norm indicates the beginning of the development of the pathological process in the body. Nasal swabs on eosinophils or a rhinocytogram are a good way to diagnose the nature of chronic runny nose at the initial stage of development.