High White Blood Cell Count – The Causes

High White Blood Cell Count

Having a high white blood cell count is not a norm for everybody. There could be something wrong that causes the white blood cell count to rise. Usually the number rises when the body is trying to fight off a disease. In the medical field it is known as leukocytosis. The following are some possible causes of high white blood cell count.

There are different schools of thought when it comes to setting the number that will determine whether it is high white blood cell count or not. However the widely accepted amount to be considered a high count is 10,500 leukocytes/microliter of blood. It also depends according to age and sex.

There are 5 categories under the white blood cells. These categories have different ways of fighting off diseases. It is usually written in the blood test result the different blood cell count of each white blood cell category. The high white blood cell count is generally caused by an increase in the count of one of the categories.

The high white blood cell count normally acts as an indicator that the immune system has encountered a disease and it is fighting it off at the mean time. It is because of fighting the disease that the white blood cell increases its production. However there are other possible causes like there could be a disease in the bone marrow and thus resulting to high blood cell production. It can also be a type of reaction to a new drug or there is some sort of infection in the body.

There are other possible reasons that could lead to high white blood cell count. One of them is ALL or acute lymphocytic leukemia. It is a cancer of the bone marrow and the blood. It is a highly progressive illness that mostly affects children. It could also be due to rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis, smoking, measles, polychthemia vera and more.