Disseminated eosinophilic infiltration of a newborn infant, with perforation of the terminal ileum and bile duct obstruction.

A preterm boy died 4 days after delivery from septicaemia which at necropsy was found to be due to perforation of an eosinophilic lesion of the terminal ileum. Eosinophilic infiltration was also found in kidney, lymph node, bone marrow, portal tracts of liver, gall bladder, and bile duct with associated obstruction of the cystic duct and mucocele of the gall bladder. No allergic cause for the infiltrate was found in either the infant or his mother. Eosinophilic infiltration of neonatal spleen, lymph node, intestinal mucosa, epicardium, thymus, pancreas, portal tracts of the liver, and skin has been reported but the aggressive behaviour of the infiltrate in this patient bears more resemblance to the eosinophilic gastroenteritis that has been described in older children and adults.