Question about white cell count ?!
Question: Question about white cell count .?
my friend got some blood work done first time his white cell count was 13,000 i think now is low to 10900 ok my question is if he's white cell went down it means that is an infection and it got ride of it right he thinks is a tumor or cancer cause of the high count i think is just anxiety what you think.Health Question & Answer
Answers:
Hello,
There's an easy answer to this, and also a more complicated answer.
The easy answer is that (depending on the exact Laboratory's normal values), a normal white blood cell count is up to 10,000, - so 13,000 is mildly raised, and 10,900 is marginally raised. The most likely explanation for this is exactly as you have said, - a white cell reaction to an infection, - probably a mild bacterial infection somewhere in his body, which is now getting better.
There is also a more complicated answer, because the short answer above is only the most likely, - it is not cast-iron "guaranteed." It's still just possible that there's another, rarer cause.
I need to remind you of some things about white blood cells. There are different types of white blood cells (in the blood), - well, let's simplify it slightly and say that there are two main types, called (1) "Poly-morph leukocytes," and (2) "Lymphocytes."
Polymorph leukocytes, or "Polys," (pronounced POLL'' - iz), fight bacterial infections, and so are the main type to increase when the body has a bacterial infection. So if you looked at a bacterial infection case with a microscope, out of the 13,000 white cells you quote, probably about 80% would be polymorphs.
Lymphocytes are antibody-producing cells and increase in virus infections, and also in certain blood disorders. So in a viral infection, say 60% of those 13,000 would be lymphocytes.
The gross, total count is done wholly by a machine. To get the relative percentages, a Lab Technician has to count the white cell types under a microscope. This is called "asking for a differential count," or just "asking for a differential." And the microscope-slide smear of blood is then called a "Film."
The Lab Tech comes up with relative percentages, and the results look like this:
FILM: Polys 80%, Lymphs 12%, Monos 5%, Eosinophils 3%, (= 100%.)
This 'differential count' helps narrow the diagnosis down, where there is any doubt. You don't say if your friend had one done. Probably not.
A blood cancer is called "Leukaemia." Not only does the white cell count usually go way up high, - usually way higher than 13,000, - but a 'Film' test then shows which type of white cell-line is responsible. Often 'cancerous' white blood cells look abnormal, in a blood film, and often there are "primitive" white cells from the bone-marrow which appear along with them in the blood.
The good news is that once it has gone up, a cancerous white cell count rarely comes down again spontaneously, as you have described!
In summary, the quick answer above covers most cases, but if your friend is worried, I think he should discuss it with his doctor further, (perhaps in the light of my "complicated" answer above).
I hope this is of some help, and not too confusing.
Best wishes,
Belliger
Retired uk GPHealth Question & Answer
There's an easy answer to this, and also a more complicated answer.
The easy answer is that (depending on the exact Laboratory's normal values), a normal white blood cell count is up to 10,000, - so 13,000 is mildly raised, and 10,900 is marginally raised. The most likely explanation for this is exactly as you have said, - a white cell reaction to an infection, - probably a mild bacterial infection somewhere in his body, which is now getting better.
There is also a more complicated answer, because the short answer above is only the most likely, - it is not cast-iron "guaranteed." It's still just possible that there's another, rarer cause.
I need to remind you of some things about white blood cells. There are different types of white blood cells (in the blood), - well, let's simplify it slightly and say that there are two main types, called (1) "Poly-morph leukocytes," and (2) "Lymphocytes."
Polymorph leukocytes, or "Polys," (pronounced POLL'' - iz), fight bacterial infections, and so are the main type to increase when the body has a bacterial infection. So if you looked at a bacterial infection case with a microscope, out of the 13,000 white cells you quote, probably about 80% would be polymorphs.
Lymphocytes are antibody-producing cells and increase in virus infections, and also in certain blood disorders. So in a viral infection, say 60% of those 13,000 would be lymphocytes.
The gross, total count is done wholly by a machine. To get the relative percentages, a Lab Technician has to count the white cell types under a microscope. This is called "asking for a differential count," or just "asking for a differential." And the microscope-slide smear of blood is then called a "Film."
The Lab Tech comes up with relative percentages, and the results look like this:
FILM: Polys 80%, Lymphs 12%, Monos 5%, Eosinophils 3%, (= 100%.)
This 'differential count' helps narrow the diagnosis down, where there is any doubt. You don't say if your friend had one done. Probably not.
A blood cancer is called "Leukaemia." Not only does the white cell count usually go way up high, - usually way higher than 13,000, - but a 'Film' test then shows which type of white cell-line is responsible. Often 'cancerous' white blood cells look abnormal, in a blood film, and often there are "primitive" white cells from the bone-marrow which appear along with them in the blood.
The good news is that once it has gone up, a cancerous white cell count rarely comes down again spontaneously, as you have described!
In summary, the quick answer above covers most cases, but if your friend is worried, I think he should discuss it with his doctor further, (perhaps in the light of my "complicated" answer above).
I hope this is of some help, and not too confusing.
Best wishes,
Belliger
Retired uk GPHealth Question & Answer
take your stupid made up story somewhere elseHealth Question & Answer