A low white blood cell count puts you at increased risk of infection.
What is considered low for white blood cell count.
A low white blood cell count leukopenia is a decrease in disease fighting cells leukocytes in your blood.
It s also not uncommon for young caucasian women to have white blood cell counts that fall slightly below the normal reference ranges.
A low white blood cell count is an unusually low number of one or more kinds of white blood cells.
Symptoms of low white blood cell count.
In general for adults a count lower than 4 000 white blood cells per microliter of blood is considered a low white blood cell count.
White blood cell creation and release in the blood are triggered and stimulated during infection.
The definition of low white blood cell count varies from one medical practice to another.
A low white blood cell wbc count is a decreased number of white blood cells leukocytes in the blood.
A low white blood cell count in adults is less than 4 000 cells per microliter of blood.
A low white blood cell count is often a side effect of drugs particularly chemotherapy drugs.
This can lead to a low white blood cell count and this reduction can reach problematic levels if the destruction occurs faster than replenishment.
The white blood count is very important because these cells have a key role in defending your body against infection.
A high wbc count is one sign that there is an infection inflammatory disease or an inflammatory process taking place somewhere in the body.
For example african americans tend to have lower white blood cell counts than caucasians.
Low white blood cell count.
If there s no clear reason for a low white blood cell count your doctor will probably want to do the test again or do a differential or diff along with the cbc.
Some people who are otherwise healthy have white cell counts that are lower.
The complete blood count includes the white blood count which is an estimate of how many white blood cells there are in your blood.
In addition what would be considered a low white blood cell count for some people may be a normal finding for others.
Given that it is a symptom in and of itself leukopenia can be accompanied by a myriad of other signs depending on what the underlying cause is.
A low white blood cell count can be an indicator of certain conditions including lupus rheumatoid arthritis vitamin deficiencies or a side effect of cancer treatment.
White blood cells are created inside the bone marrow the spongy tissue inside bones.
A low wbc count is referred to medically as leukopenia.
Leukopenia is almost always related to a decrease in a certain type of white blood cell neutrophil.
There is an estimate as to what is a typical white blood cell count and what is too high or too low.