There are several possible causes for a high white blood cell
count. This count is high when there are more disease-fighting cells in
your body. The technical term for this condition is leukocytosis.
Different
medical practices may have different limits by which they define high
white blood cell count. A count of 10,500 leukocytes in one microliter
of blood is widely accepted as a high count. The threshold may vary
between sex and age.
White blood cells are categorized by five
subtypes, and each type has a different activity in fighting disease.
When you get the results of your white blood cell count, they will
usually specify what the levels are of all the different types. Usually,
a high count is only caused by an increase in one type of white blood
cells.
A high white blood cell count is indicative of an immune
system problem that increases their production; a disease in your bone
marrow that causes high blood cell production; a reaction to some drug
that is used to enhance cell production; or the increase expected when
your body is fighting off an infection.
There are some more specific reasons why your white blood cell count may be high:
Acute
lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer that lives in the bone marrow
and blood. This disease is a rapidly progressive one. Children are more
affected by this than any other type of cancer, although adults can
develop the disease as well.
Drugs like epinephrine and corticosteroids can affect your white cell count.
Measles
is an infection that affects mainly the respiratory tract. It is very
contagious. The signs include skin rash, fever, sore throat, inflamed
eyes, runny nose and cough. The measles vaccine is an excellent way to
protect children against this disease, but outside of the civilized
countries, many children are not vaccinated. This disease will spread
rapidly among people who have not had the vaccination.
Rheumatoid
arthritis is a serious type of arthritis from which you will experience
joint damage and pain. It attacks your joints' lining and this causes
swelling. In turn, that leads to throbbing, aching pain and possibly
eventual deformity. Rheumatoid arthritis, also called RA, can make even
the easiest of normal activities hard to accomplish.
Some of the other causes of high white blood cell count include:
Stress, be it emotional or physical
Smoking
Tuberculosis
Tissue damage, like one receives with burns
Acute or chronic myelogenous leukemia
Chronic or acute lymphocytic leukemia
Whooping cough
Severe allergic reactions
Myelofibrosis
Polycythemia vera
Other viral infections
Other bacterial infections
Smoking
Tuberculosis
Tissue damage, like one receives with burns
Acute or chronic myelogenous leukemia
Chronic or acute lymphocytic leukemia
Whooping cough
Severe allergic reactions
Myelofibrosis
Polycythemia vera
Other viral infections
Other bacterial infections
By
Sara Le