acute lymphocytic luekemia and high wbc count?

Question

A young child is diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Why is infection a major problem when her wbc count is high?

Answer 1

Normally, the bone marrow produces immature stem cells in a controlled way. Such stem cells mature and develop into various types of blood cells as needed before being released to the bloodstreams.

In acute lymphocytic leukemia, the lymphocytes produced which are released to the bloodstreams are immature and abnormal. Such abnormal cells multiply rapidly and crowd out healthy blood cells. As the result, there is a massive rise of the white blood cells count but they could not function just like the normal ones, leading to vulnerability to infection and easy bleeding as well. The abnormal lymphocytes are non-functional and in no way fight against infection. Therefore, infection becomes a major problem.

Answer 2

lani s is correct. There are different types of white blood cells. Some fight bacteria and some fight viruses. Some produce antibodies. The normal white cells are crowded out with useless immature white cells in uncontrolled leukemia patients.
(Heme/Onc specialist MD)

Answer 3

high wbc is called luekemia