Quantitative cytology of nasal secretions with perennial allergic rhinitis in children: comparison of noninfected and infected conditions.

This study was performed to quantify the number of inflammatory cells in nasal secretions from pediatric patients with perennial allergic rhinitis under noninfected and infected conditions. Nasal secretions were obtained from seven children under both noninfected and infected conditions with perennial allergic rhinitis to house dust mites, and secondary quantitative cytology was performed on the secretions. The number of neutrophils under infected condition was significantly higher than that under noninfected condition (P < .05), whereas the number of eosinophils in infected condition was significantly lower than that in noninfected condition (P < .05). The ratio of eosinophil count to neutrophil count was more than 0.1 in noninfected condition. The ratio was significantly decreased in infected condition (P < .02). These results suggest that the distribution of inflammatory cells in the nasal mucus of children with allergic rhinitis would be modified under infected condition.