Some people go to the doctor because they aren’t feeling well, only to find their body is producing excessive neutrophils. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that fight infections. When the body produces too many, a person develops leukocytosis, a condition that can cause fevers, recurring infections, and other symptoms. The symptoms often indicate an underlying medical condition that requires treatment.
Why Might a Person Develop Neutrophilia?
Many medical conditions can lead to leukocytosis. When a person is diagnosed with this infection, they need to understand the neutrophilia meaning. An everyday infection can lead to an increase in these white blood cells, and the body may produce more when a person is stressed. Blood disorders may also lead the body to increase its production of these cells. A doctor will run tests to uncover the underlying cause. Neutrophilia may have a primary or secondary cause.
Primary Causes of Neutrophilia
A person might be born with an excess of neutrophils. Individuals with chronic myelogenous leukemia, a blood cancer, may have too many white blood cells, and some people produce extra platelets, leading to essential thrombocytosis. At times, the bone marrow overproduces red blood cells, leading to polycythemia vera.
Children might develop a condition in which their white blood cells don’t mature properly. These children have juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. Fortunately, this blood cancer remains extremely rare. Another primary cause of neutrophilia is chronic neutrophilic leukemia, a rare blood cancer that affects adults. This cancer develops when the bone marrow makes excessive neutrophils.
Secondary Neutrophilia Causes
Infections account for secondary neutrophilia causes. A person might have inflammatory bowel disease or rheumatoid arthritis, and the chronic inflammation leads to secondary neutrophilia. Vasculitis, an inflammation of blood vessels, can lead to neutrophilia, or it may develop as a reaction to medication or a tumor. Physical and emotional stress can bring about this condition, and people who smoke or exercise vigorously might receive this diagnosis.
Symptoms of Neutrophilia
A person with neutrophilia won’t have any conditions related to this condition. However, they will often have symptoms of the underlying condition that brought on the neutrophilia. A fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher may indicate neutrophilia, and the person may feel tired, dizzy, or faint. Recurring infections may indicate the individual is developing neutrophilia, and sores that don’t heal are a symptom that should never be ignored.
Diagnosing Neutrophilia
When a person reports they have any of the symptoms outlined above, the doctor will physically examine them. They may order a complete blood count and other tests. A healthy person will have a neutrophil level between 1,450 and 7,500 neutrophils per microliter. Anything above this is referred to as neutrophilia, and when the count reaches 11,000 or higher, the individual will be diagnosed with leukocytosis.
Treating Neutrophilia
Doctors cannot treat neutrophilia. They must identify the underlying cause and address it to reduce this number. It may be as simple as providing the patient with ways to reduce stress in their life, or the treatment could be more involved, such as when a person needs a bone marrow transplant.
Anyone who isn’t feeling well should see their doctor to learn what is going on. If the physician finds that the patient has an excess of white blood cells, they will work to identify the underlying cause. When that condition is treated, the white blood cell count should return to normal, and the individual will begin to feel better.
