LYMPHOCYTES-T AND BLOOD EOSINOPHILS IN EARLY INFANCY IN RELATION TO HEREDITY FOR ALLERGY AND TYPE OF FEEDING

T lymphocytes in 50 one-month-old infants were determined and correlated to heredity for allergy, blood eosinophil counts, and type of feeding. It was found that infants with heredity for atopy had significantly lower relative numbers of T lymphocytes than infants without heredity (p < 0.05). This difference was particularly obvious in heredity for asthma on the paternal side (p = 0.001). There was an inverse correlation between T lymphocyte counts and blood eosinophil counts in infants who were cow's milk-fed; i.e., low T lymphocyte counts were associated with high blood eosinophil counts (r = -0.59, p < 0.01). T lymphocyte counts were not correlated to the type of feeding, whereas blood eosinophils were significantly higher in the cow's milk-fed than in the breast-fed group (p < 0.01). The results suggest that atopic allergy may he associated with a genetically determined lymphocyte defect. © 1979.