Low White Blood Count

Not to worry very often when we are not well, white cells increase, this virus that is going around right now is a butt kicker I believe it is type B

I don't know if this is much help, but my 8 yr old had the same symptoms a week or two ago for about 3-4 days, as well as many kids in her class, and one morning she woke up and she said her head didn't hurt as much and her fever had gone. We've had no problems since. It probably is just part of how his body is reacting while fighting this virus and will be back to normal when he is better. Good luck and let us know how it turned out.

Hi A. B,

My 5 year old was very ill as well. His fevers were 106 to 108 degrees. I took him to the urgent care and followed up with is pediatrician the next 3-4 days. They did lab work as well. His WBC was 4 and he had lost 6 pounds(and was only 46 lbs to begin with). He was admitted to the hospital with mycostatic pneumonia (viral pneumonia). He was also dehydrated from the high fevers. After being admitted, he had more lab work and chest xrays. The xrays is what caught the infection.....
My son ended up missing almost 3 weeks of school.

Ask your doctor if you can have xrays done to be sure as lab work does not show a lot unless you know what you are looking for.

Hope this helps.....good luck & hope your son is better soon.

Hi A.~

I'm no doctor, but I can completely identify with what you are talking about, except my son is only 18-months old. This is EXACTLY what we went through just last month and I too, am a worrier by nature.

We did some bloodwork on him just as a precaution and his count came back a little low, showing mild neurtopenia, (his count was somewhere around 1100) which sounds like what your son has. Of course, the first thing I did was go straight to "Google University" to get some research done. HUGE MISTAKE!! When I put in neutropenia (which is what it is called when your white blood cell count is low) brought up sites relating to cancer and leukemia. Talk about panic. I cried myself senseless for almost three weeks. Last month was truly the worst month of my life because I was starting to think that my young son might be seriously ill.

After doing some more research, I discovered that the reason there is a connection between low white blood cell count, or neutropenia, and cancer is because it is a SIDE EFFECT of chemotherapy, NOT a presenting symptom. When you undergo chemo, it kills everything in your body, even the white blood cells who are trying to defend your body in the first place, that's what the link is. To back this up, I took it a step further and actually took my son to a child oncologist/hematologist (cancer doctor) to confirm that I was right.

Also, my son had a rough bought of RSV back in December that lasted for a few weeks, and then three days after his blood was taken, he came down with a bad 48 hour flu. I also learned from my own research that the most common cause of neutropenia in children is viral infections, and to my HUGE relief, it has no adverse effects on them whatsoever and that they just outgrow it, usually by age 5. I can tell you that the hematologist confirmed all this to be true.

My pediatrician told me that we could do another draw in about 6 to 8 weeks from the original draw, just to see where the numbers are again, (I don't think one week is nearly long enough for the cells to rebound and get an accurate count, though). But after talking to the oncologist, he didn't even think that would be necessary. I should tell you that my son has always been very healthy and has absolutely no other indications that anything would be wrong or unusual about him, so the doctor felt very confident that his count was low because he had just gotten over an illness and then he came down with the flu three days after the draw. This is significant because the count can be low if your body's fighting something off that may not manifest for several days.

Three weeks later, we have put the entire thing behind us and are moving on with our lives. But I sympathize so much with you because it is a very scary situation and not one that a lot of people experience or even know about. I wish we had never gotten his bloodwork done because I am also 6 months pregnant and I don't think I've ever experienced that kind of fear or stress in my entire life.

It sounds to me like your son's count is related to his body fighting off the infection, as long as his health history is good and you have no other reason to believe there could be a link to something more serious. Also, both my pediatrician and the hematologist/oncologist said that if you are going to do a second draw, you need to wait a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks to give his body a chance to make more cells. Anything sooner than that may not be reliable and is putting everyone through a tough time needlessly.

I hope I have brought you a little bit of relief. If you do your online research, not focusing on low white blood cell count, but on childhood neutropenia and viral infections, you will bring up several sites referring to what I am talking about, as opposed to searching for neutropenia which is related to cancer only as a side effect.

Lastly, if you're like me, there was no way in Hell I was going to sit around waiting for 6 to 8 weeks to see if my son was okay, so I went straight to the hematologist to get some answers and that made all the difference. If I had waited, I would still have another 2 to 3 weeks of wondering now, and thinking that something is wrong. If you are really worried, go to a specialist and hopefully they can give you some reassurance now rather than later.

Good luck, A.. I'm sure your little guy's okay!
S.

As I understand it is common for the white cell count to flucuate when a child is fighting a virus. Take the medication necessary and make sure you follow up after the virus clears. There is no way of knowing that there is something wrong until the virus is clear. Try not to worry about what you read on the internet until after the virus has run its course. Good luck!

Hi, A.!

I wouldn't worry too much. I used to work as a lab technician and know that bacterial infections cause high white cell counts while viruses routinely cause low ones. It will probably be back to normal as soon as the virus has run its course.
Hope this helps.

E.

Hi A.! In most cases that is nothing to worry about. Some virus's can cause low white count. My daughters white count drops just about any time she gets a bad virus and it has never turned out to be anything more. BUT...that is great that your doctor is keeping an eye on your son. Good luck!

Hi A.,

My son had the same virus. Fever and headache for about 4 straight days. Sick in bed the whole time. However, since it went away shortly thereafter and I did not take him to a doctor. I wouldn't worry at this point unless the doctor has given you concern to do so. Good luck.

D. Vasquez
Mother of one 10 year old son

mY 11 YEAR OLD IS FINALLY GETTING OVER WHAT SOUNDS LIKE YOUR SON HAS. hE MISSED ALOT OF SCHOOL, NEVER GETS SICK. HE HAD THE FEVER OFF AND ON,VOMITTED, COUGHED, BUT WAS SO TIRED, I WAS THINKING HE POSSIBLY HAD MONO. HE WAS ASLEEP FOR HOURS AFTER SCHOOL. AFTER 3 WEEKS , HE'S BACK TO HIMSELF. I'VE HEARD OTHERS DESCRIBE THIS AS WELL.

Hi A.,
I am a Registered Nurse and have seen low WBC counts during the viral state of an infection. It can sometimes mean that a bacterial infection is beginning. That's when you'll see a rise in the WBC count. It's good that your doctor plans on repeating your son's CBC. Does he have a fever? A cough? Does he have phlegm build up? If so, what color is his mucus? Just some things to watch. If he has green mucus or snot (not a medical term) then he may need antibiotics. A viral infection is a wait and see cold. My neice and nephew keep giving it my sister and vice versa. Good hand washing!!! Hope this helps. :) S. G

I had a nephew going through the same thing, we were all frightened it was leukemia, but it was called ideopathic thrombocytopenia- I think that's what it's called, basically an unknown virus that causes low white blood cells. I think they gave him some medicine and he was better and it never came back again. I know my ex husband had also had the same experience. I hope that's all it is, will send positive thoughts your way. I guess it isn't that uncommon.

was he checked for meningitis?

I don't know about the white blood cells. But there is a bad virus going around that has a fever and really bad head aches. Good luck.

Hi A.,
As a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, I would like to reassure you. It is normal for the wbcs to drop with a virus. The reason is that his body used them to fight the virus. Basically what happens when a body fights a virus, is that they use a specific type of wbc to fight the virus. When the body uses it's wbcs to fight the virus, it has less of them available until the body catches up with making more. Your child's doctor wants to recheck them in a week to make sure that your son's body has recovered and produced more wbcs for the next virus. There are several types of wbcs in the body. They each have a different purpose and meaning in the body. When you googled low wbcs, you can get a lot of information that includes all of the different types of cells. You can find some scarey information that wouldn't pertain in this case. Don't worry, what your's son's body is doing is responding like a normal body.

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