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What Causes Low Number Of White Blood Cells In Infants?
Question: I took my baby for a nine month well visit his doctor does A CBC on all her babies and nine months his came back with the low white blood cell count which he is never sick so this confused her so she decided to refer us out to a hematologist he did a CBC on him our first visit and his white blood cells went up into the thousand so he was happy with that but he found that he was very low and iron so he put him on iron twice a day and wanted to see us back once a week to monitor so we went back last week and his counts were upstill yesterday going back with our third time and his neutrophils we're down to 900... The doctor threw out the word neutropenia I'm confused because nobody in our family has this in my child is never sick could it be that these may be our just his normal levels
Brief Answer:
maybe cyclic neutropenia
Detailed Answer:
Hi
Thanks for your query.
I understand your concerns. Neutropenia means low neutrophil count. Usually less than 2000 neutrophil means neutropenia, and less than 1000 is definitely significant. However, you mention that he is never sick. So probability that this is due to a viral infection is low.
Moreover, it is improving and then reducing on its own. So this might be cyclic neutropenia. In this condition, the neutrophil count goes up and down in a cycle. It is usually not serious but one needs to keep a watch on counts so that the child does not get an infection.
Hope this helps.
Regards
maybe cyclic neutropenia
Detailed Answer:
Hi
Thanks for your query.
I understand your concerns. Neutropenia means low neutrophil count. Usually less than 2000 neutrophil means neutropenia, and less than 1000 is definitely significant. However, you mention that he is never sick. So probability that this is due to a viral infection is low.
Moreover, it is improving and then reducing on its own. So this might be cyclic neutropenia. In this condition, the neutrophil count goes up and down in a cycle. It is usually not serious but one needs to keep a watch on counts so that the child does not get an infection.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Can he grow out of this? He has a ringworm right now could that be why his counts dipped a little this time?
Brief Answer:
not due to ringworm
Detailed Answer:
This is very unlikely to be due to ringworm.
If it is actually congenital cyclic neutropenia, then it stays. The child can't 'grow' out of it. But treatment is available to reduce these dips in neutrophil count.
not due to ringworm
Detailed Answer:
This is very unlikely to be due to ringworm.
If it is actually congenital cyclic neutropenia, then it stays. The child can't 'grow' out of it. But treatment is available to reduce these dips in neutrophil count.
Note: Do you have more questions on diagnosis or treatment of blood disorders? Ask An Expert/ Specialist Now
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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