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What Does "white Blood Cells And Neutrophils Are Low" Mean?

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Posted on Sat, 22 Mar 2014
Question: hello I've been on pegetron interferon and ribavirin for three weeks now and I'm told that my white blood cells and neutrophils are low what does neutrophil mean
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Answered by Dr. Enrique Molina (46 minutes later)
Brief Answer: infection risk Detailed Answer: hi, interferon can lower your neutrophil counts. these are the cells that fight off infections (particularly bacterial infections). so you are at risk of developing infections anywhere in your body, if your count gets to a critically low value, usually <1000 cells is XXXXXXX The dose of interferon may need to be reduced, or skipped for a week or so. Ribavirin usually lowers your red cells (interferon can do it too), so if your hemoglobin is below <10, then the dose of ribavirin might need to be reduced as well. new therapies are available against hepatitis C, and soon without interferon which is the one with most undesirable side effects (however since they are new, they are expensive). Treatment courses are also shorter ( 3- 6 months) as opposed to 6 months to a year. hope that helped.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Dr. Enrique Molina

Internal Medicine Specialist

Practicing since :2004

Answered : 364 Questions

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What Does "white Blood Cells And Neutrophils Are Low" Mean?

Brief Answer: infection risk Detailed Answer: hi, interferon can lower your neutrophil counts. these are the cells that fight off infections (particularly bacterial infections). so you are at risk of developing infections anywhere in your body, if your count gets to a critically low value, usually <1000 cells is XXXXXXX The dose of interferon may need to be reduced, or skipped for a week or so. Ribavirin usually lowers your red cells (interferon can do it too), so if your hemoglobin is below <10, then the dose of ribavirin might need to be reduced as well. new therapies are available against hepatitis C, and soon without interferon which is the one with most undesirable side effects (however since they are new, they are expensive). Treatment courses are also shorter ( 3- 6 months) as opposed to 6 months to a year. hope that helped.