If a blood test shows that neutrophils are lowered, the child is most likely to have one of the infectious diseases. However, a “bad” analysis can be caused by a number of other, less serious reasons, up to the wrong analysis. Therefore, parents should not immediately panic, but it’s better to try to figure it out well.
What are neutrophils
In the blood of every person there are red blood cells that give it a red color and act as transporters of oxygen and nutrients to all cells, platelets involved in wound healing, and white blood cells that protect the body from infections. Neutrophils, or neutrophilic granulocytes, are a type of white blood cell.
They got this name because when cystological staining changes their color under the influence of both acidic and basic dyes. There are several types of neutrophils in the blood of children and adults - young (immature), in which the nucleus has a holistic character and a rod-like shape, and old (mature). The core of them is visually divided into separate segments, so they are called segmented. Bone marrow is a supplier of neutrophils; it produces them non-stop. Everyone's life lasts from several hours to several days. The born neutrophil gradually grows, reaches maturity, grows old and dies. Normally, the old are always several times more than the young.
Why neutrophils are needed
The function of neutrophils in the human body is phagocytosis, that is, the capture and eating of foreign particles that they detect. All neutrophils are microphages, that is, they "specialize" in bacteria, fungi and small particles ("scraps" of tissue that have died red blood cells). They practically do not fight viruses. Nature endowed neutrophils with the ability to chemotaxis (response to the appearance of a foreign element and the ability to move in the desired direction). They can also easily penetrate through the walls of blood vessels into tissue cells. By capturing and eating bacteria, neutrophils die. Their clusters form pus. The standard color of these body defenders is greenish. That is why pus has a similar shade. Under certain conditions, the bone marrow begins to produce neutrophils at such a rate that they do not have time to age. There are too many young people in the blood, as a result of which the old neutrophils are lowered. In a child, this situation can be observed for various reasons.
How many neutrophils should be in the blood
The norm of neutrophils is not an absolute concept. It was found that their number can fluctuate during the day, vary after eating and physical activity. This must be considered when giving blood for analysis. In adults, regardless of their age, both young and old neutrophils are within acceptable limits. The norm in children varies significantly with each year of their life, and in newborns - every day.
Normal neutrophil counts| Child age | Number of young neutrophils (%) | Number of old neutrophils (%) |
| 1st day of life | 1-17 | 45-79 |
| 1-12 months | 0.5-4 | 15-45 |
| 1-12 years old | 0.5-5 | 25-62 |
| 13-15 years old | 0.5-6 | 40-65 |
| 16 years and older | 1-6 | 47-72 |
Why do children increase the number of neutrophils
Very sensitive to bacteria and fungi that cause pneumonia, tonsillitis, scarlet fever and other diseases, young neutrophils.
The norm in children of these stab forms of leukocytes with such infections is always exceeded, and the analysis result is classified as a left shift. The direction of the shift is determined by the fact that in the blood formula, the types of neutrophils are recorded from young (left) to mature (right). Another unpleasant reason for the increase may be the beginning of the development of an oncological tumor. Older
neutrophils (segmented) in children are much less sensitive to cancer cells than younger ones. Therefore, the number of the former decreases with oncology, while the latter increases sharply. An increase in old neutrophils often occurs with leukemia, large blood loss, and the body’s reaction to certain drugs is called neutrophilia. In addition to the above reasons, an
increase in neutrophils is observed with anemia, bleeding, as the body's response to an increased content of carbon dioxide in the air, bites of poisonous insects and the effect of certain drugs.
Causes of Low Blood Neutrophils
A condition where the number of neutrophils is below normal is called neutropenia. Both bacterial infections and more “simple” causes lead to its occurrence. These include:
- a side effect of taking analgesics, certain antibiotics, cytostatics, antispasmodic drugs, thyreostatics, and some other drugs;
- high physical activity;
- living conditions under which the child is constantly in emotional stress;
- hereditary factors (chronic neutropenia);
- lack of vitamins B1, B9, B12, copper, iron and other micro and macro elements.
Rarely, but it happens that neutrophils are lowered in a child due to mistakes made when donating blood for analysis, for example, a baby is very overexcited or richly fed. In such cases, it is recommended to repeat the analysis.
Infections that cause a decrease in neutrophils
Diseases in which a decrease in the level of neutrophils is recorded in children are as follows:
- tuberculosis;
- bacterial endocarditis;
- chickenpox;
- flu;
- AIDS;
- measles;
- hepatitis;
- rubella;
- typhoid and paratyphoid;
- diseases caused by fungi and protozoa;
- irradiation;
- 6 and 7 herpes viruses.
In addition to bactericidal and fungal infections, low neutrophils in a child are due to pathologies in the bone marrow. These include:
- myelocachexia (a hereditary disease in which the release of neutrophils from the bone marrow is impaired);
- Costman's disease (failures in the process of maturation of neutrophils);
- bone marrow aplasia or hypoplasia;
- damage to his tissues with drugs.
Symptoms
The nature of the manifestations depends on the reasons why neutrophils in the child are reduced . If it is a bacterial infection, then the symptoms of neutropenia will be the same as in a concomitant disease. Sometimes, the only symptoms of a decrease in neutrophil count are a child’s fatigue, weakness, excessive sweating, and frequent colds. More complex forms of neutropenia are manifested by frequent gingivitis, stomatitis, periodontal disease, multiple pustular formations on the skin. Severe forms of neutrophil lowering are accompanied by fever and fever. If very young children are diagnosed with chronic neutropenia, and it is asymptomatic, this condition is not considered pathology. As a rule, the norm of neutrophils is restored to two to three years of age.
Treatment
When a blood test showed that neutrophils are lowered, the child tries to correctly determine the cause of the deviation from the norm and take measures to eliminate it. This is the first step in treating neutropenia. The second step is to strengthen the immune system of the small patient, because with low neutrophils, it is usually in a depressed state. Children are prescribed vitamin complexes, a sparing regimen, and improved nutrition. With concomitant stomatitis, periodontal disease, gingivitis, the mouth is rinsed with bactericidal solutions, chlorhexidine, decoctions of chamomile and St. John's wort herbs. Also, the doctor may prescribe antibiotics. If neutropenia is severe, a blood transfusion is possible . In cases where there are less than 500 neutrophils in one microliter of blood, antibiotic therapy is carried out regardless of why neutropenia occurred.