Leukopenia is a blood disease characterized by a decrease in the number of leukocytes. In most cases, the problem is temporary and after the elimination of the cause disappears. In the article we will tell about what causes leukopenia.
When is the diagnosis of leukopenia?
In the blood of a healthy human leukocyte should be 4х109. If this indicator increases or decreases, we can safely talk about changes in the bone marrow, where all the blood cells are produced.
Very often leukopenia develops against the background of blood diseases (leukemia, bone marrow aplasia and others), but there are a lot of other reasons, which we will talk about below.
The causes of leukopenia in adults and children
Leukopenia can be congenital or acquired. And if children mainly suffer from a congenital form of the disease, adults are more likely to develop acquired leukopenia.
The main causes of the appearance of leukopenia can be absolutely diverse. Often they look like this:
- The likelihood of developing leukopenia in infections is high. Viruses, sepsis, fungus - all this can help to reduce leukocytes in the blood.
- You can get sick with leukopenia and with a lack of vitamin B12, folic acid or copper in the body.
- Malignant tumors usually disrupt the process of normal hematopoiesis. Lakopenia also develops after chemotherapy . The number of white blood cells after the procedure is even considered a kind of indicator of the toxicity of therapy.
- Problems with leukocytes can be observed in autoimmune damage to stem cells.
- It goes without saying that problems with blood, including leukocytes, take place in inflammation and bone marrow diseases.
With viral hepatitis, secondary leukopenia often develops in patients. Earlier it was accepted that the more pronounced the leukopenia, the more complex the disease. As practice shows, this opinion is erroneous, and very often leukopenia with hepatitis develop separately from each other.
Another type of leukopenia is the drug. It is considered the most famous. Appears drug leukopenia, as you might guess, when taking medication. So the change in the blood composition after a course of antibiotics or other potent drugs - a phenomenon quite normal. After some time after the completion of taking the tablets, the number of white blood cells in the blood comes to normal by itself.