Influenza A/H1N1 Severe Pneumonia: Novel Morphocytological Findings in Bronchoalveolar Lavage

Table 2

Cytological examination of the bronchoalveolar lavage.

	Patient #1	Patient #2	Patient #3	Reference intervals^#
Day after hospitalization BAL was performed	15th	6th	5th
Alveolar macrophages %	36	31	33	80–90%
Lymphocytes %	46	15	21	5–15%
Neutrophils, %	3	44	38	1–3%
Mast cells %	6	0	2	<1%
Eosinophils %	2	1	1	≤1%
p/p-like cells %	8	9	6	Absent
Red blood cells	Present	Present	Present	Absent
Type II pneumocytes aggregated in clusters	Absent	Present	Present	Absent

p/p-like cells: plasmoblastic/plasmocytoid-like cells.
^#BAL Cooperative Group Steering Committee. Bronchoalveolar lavage constituents in healthy individuals, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and selected comparison groups [9].