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Elevated WBC Due To Pneumonia. On Levaquin. What Is The Cause For This?
My husband was dx d with pneumonia on the 19th of January and admitted to the hospital because of an increasing wbc . Thurs it was 19k and on Friday it was 31k. He spent 3 days in the hospital on Levaquin and continued 4 doses of Levaquin orally for a total of 7 doses. When discharged his wbc was 19k. He felt better and appeared to be improving. He went for follow with primary on Monday and had a wbc of 29k . He was given a penicillin orally and told that he would be referred to an infectious disease doctor. My questions i what could be causing this? He feels better but we are very worried.
Sat, 9 Feb 2013
Hello, thanks for using HCM.
White blood cells (wbc) are defense cells of the body that help fight foreign particles in the body. They generally increase in case of an infection like pneumonia which your husband has. Levaquin (levofloxacin ) is a new generation drug of a potent class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolone and it is effective against a wide range of pathogens including those causing community acquired pneumonia. The general trend is that wbc should decrease progressively if treatment is effective but then wbc is not the only thing that is needed to follow him up. His clinical features such as temperature, chest pain, cough, his wellbeing etc are important because wbc may fluatuate even when the treatment is effective. If he is improving that is to say, no more fever nor chest pain nor cough and being increasingly physically fit, there is no need to worry; all he needs is to continue his drugs. On the contrary, if he is not , then you should consider seeing an infectiologist
White blood cells (wbc) are defense cells of the body that help fight foreign particles in the body. They generally increase in case of an infection like pneumonia which your husband has. Levaquin (levofloxacin ) is a new generation drug of a potent class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolone and it is effective against a wide range of pathogens including those causing community acquired pneumonia. The general trend is that wbc should decrease progressively if treatment is effective but then wbc is not the only thing that is needed to follow him up. His clinical features such as temperature, chest pain, cough, his wellbeing etc are important because wbc may fluatuate even when the treatment is effective. If he is improving that is to say, no more fever nor chest pain nor cough and being increasingly physically fit, there is no need to worry; all he needs is to continue his drugs. On the contrary, if he is not , then you should consider seeing an infectiologist
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