Q. Is it normal to have raised WBC count in teenager?
Hello doctor, My 16 years old son had a routine CBC performed as part of his physical for summer camp. His white blood count came back low 3.4 thousand/uL (reference 4.5 to 13.0), absolute neutrophils 1445 cells/uL (reference 1800 to 8000), neutrophils 42.5 %. He has always been very healthy and has not had any recent illnesses or infections. The other numbers were within normal range. The doctor wants to retest the blood in three months. Why wait so long? Knowing that some of the causes of a low white count are serious makes me want to retest sooner. What do you advise?
Hello. The neutrophil in children usually can be due to some temporary infection etiology. Viral infection also can cause neutropenia due to relatively high lymphocytes. I suggest to repeat CBC and peripheral smear examination report again after 10 to 15 days. I am also not in favour of repeating CBC after three months.