| eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome | <syndrome> A complex systemic syndrome with inflammatory and autoimmune components that affect the skin, fascia, muscle, nerve, blood vessels, lung, and heart. The varied symptoms include severe muscle pain and abnormally high numbers of eosinophils. This disease has presented itself only in people taking the amino acid l-tryptophan and it is believed that a specific impurity (probably stemming from a genetically engineered bacterial strain) in lots of l-tryptophan made by a single manufacturer may be the cause of the syndrome. (12 Dec 1998) |
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