what causes high white blood cell count in humans?
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The main causes of elevated white blood cells include: To fight a viral, fungal, bacterial, or parasitic infection. A negative reaction to a drug that triggers an immune and white blood cell response. Disease or malfunction that causes the bone marrow to overproduce white blood cells.
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The high population of these cells indicates a requirement for support of the immune system. The causes could be trauma, pregnancy, allergic reactions, or autoimmune disorder. Some symptoms linked to increased white blood cells are fever, dizziness, frequent allergic reactions, and inflammation.
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Though it varies between individuals, a high white blood cell count (leukocytosis) is usually considered to be anything above 11,000 cells per μl of blood in an adult. This can be related to: Infection. Bone marrow disease.
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Thus, if white blood cell levels are high, it can very well be an indication of an infection. “A bacterial infection is the most common kind that we see with high white blood cells,” says Dr. Berg, so the suspicion would be that the dog needs an antibiotic to tackle the offending bacterial problem.
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The peripheral white blood cell count can double within hours after certain stimuli because of the large bone marrow storage and intravascularly marginated pools of neutrophils. Stressors capable of causing an acute leukocytosis include surgery, exercise, trauma, and emotional stress.
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Other symptoms of leukocytosis are related to the condition causing your high number of WBCs, or sometimes due to effects of the specific type of white blood cell. These may include: fever and pain or other symptoms at the site of an infection.
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While having an elevated or abnormally high white blood cell count does not necessarily indicate leukemia, the source of the condition will need to be identified if it is found to exceed the levels and duration of a normal immune response to an infection.
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Infection can also lead to inflammation, which can in turn cause the number of white blood cells to increase. Smoking or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) – essentially, COPD means that you have a lung and airway disease like emphysema or chronic bronchitis that blocks proper airflow.
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Leukocytosis is a condition in which the white cell (leukocyte count) is above the normal range in the blood. It is frequently a sign of an inflammatory response, most commonly the result of infection, but may also occur following certain parasitic infections or bone tumors as well as leukemia.
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A high white blood cell count alone doesn't cause any symptoms. The symptoms you feel may come from the medical problem that your white blood cells are fighting. For example, if you have pneumonia, you may have a fever and trouble breathing.
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Neutrophils, which account for about 70% of white blood cells, can increase in response to bacterial infections as well as to physical or emotional stress. A high lymphocyte count may occur when there is a viral or bacterial infection.
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Rozanski says, a low white blood cell count results from chemotherapy, sepsis (overwhelming infection), or parvovirus. The virus destroys all rapidly dividing cells, including those in the bone marrow and cells lining the gastrointestinal tract.
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Does a high WBC count signal infection? THE WHITE BLOOD CELL (WBC) count can indicate disorders such as an infection or inflammation. But taken alone, the WBC count may have little value unless you correlate it to the patient's clinical condition and analyze the WBC differential—the percentage of different WBC types.
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Elevated white blood cell (WBC) count is a nonspecific marker of inflammation associated with immune system response to both acute and chronic infection and exposure to irritating and toxic exposures, such as tobacco smoke (1–4).
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The exact threshold for a high white blood cell count varies from one laboratory to another. In general, for adults a count of more than 11,000 white blood cells (leukocytes) in a microliter of blood is considered a high white blood cell count.
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More serious conditions that may cause high white blood cell counts include blood disorders, including: Leukemia. Lymphoma. Bone marrow disorders such as polycythemia vera or myelofibrosis.
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Typically, white blood cell count is elevated during pregnancy, with the lower limit of the reference range being around 6,000 cells per μl and the upper limit around 17,000 cells per μl. The stress imposed on the body through pregnancy causes this rise in white blood cells.