Neutrophils are lowered in the child, what to do? Neutrophils: normal in children

If the blood test shows that neutrophils are lowered, the child most likely has one of the infectious diseases. However, a "bad" analysis can be caused by a number of other, less serious causes, down to an incorrect analysis. Therefore, parents should not immediately panic, but it is better to try to understand everything in everything.

What is neutrophils

In the blood of each person there are red blood cells that give it a red color and serve as oxygen and nutrient transporters to all cells, platelets involved in wound healing, and leukocytes that protect the body from infections. Neutrophils, or neutrophilic granulocytes - is one of the types of leukocytes. Such a name they got because they change their color under cystological staining under the influence of both acidic and basic dyes. Neutrophils in the blood of children and adults are of several types - young (immature), in which the nucleus has a holistic character and rod-like shape, and old (mature). The nucleus is visually divided into separate segments, therefore they are called segment-nuclear ones. The bone marrow is a supplier of neutrophils, it generates 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 is always several times larger than the young.

Why neutrophils are needed

The function of neutrophils in the human body is phagocytosis, that is, the capture and eating of alien particles that they will detect. All neutrophils are microphages, that is, they "specialize" on bacteria, fungi and small particles ("scraps" of tissues, dead erythrocytes). With viruses, they practically do not fight. Nature has endowed neutrophils with the ability to chemotaxis (responding to the appearance of a foreign element and the ability to move in the desired direction). They can also easily penetrate the walls of the blood vessels into the tissue cells. Capturing and eating bacteria, neutrophils die. Their clusters form pus. The standard color of these body protectors is greenish. That is why pus has a similar color. Under certain conditions, the bone marrow begins to produce neutrophils at such a rate that they do not have time to grow old. Young in the blood is too much, resulting in 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 is established that their number can fluctuate during the day, change after eating and exercise. This must be taken into account when giving blood for analysis. In adults, regardless of their age, young and old neutrophils are within acceptable limits. The norm in children varies significantly with each year of their life, and in newborns - with each passing day.

Why 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 rod-shaped leukocytes in such infections is always exceeded, and the result of the analysis is classified as a shift to the left. The direction of the shift is determined by the fact that in the blood formula the types of neutrophils are recorded from the young (left) to the mature (to the right). Another unpleasant cause of the increase may be the onset of oncological tumor development. Old neutrophils (segmented) in children to cancer cells are much less sensitive than young ones. Therefore, the number of first patients decreases with oncology, while the second increases sharply. An increase in old neutrophils often occurs with leukemia, large blood loss, the body's response to certain medications and is called neutrophilia. In addition to the above reasons, an increase in neutrophils is observed in anemia, bleeding, as the body's response to high levels of carbon dioxide in the ambient air, bites of poisonous insects and the effects of certain drugs.

Causes of decreased neutrophil count in the blood

A condition where the number of neutrophils is below normal is called neutropenia. Both bacterial infections and "simpler" causes lead to its occurrence. These include:

• A side effect of taking analgesics, individual antibiotics, cytotoxic drugs, antispasmodics, thyreostatics and some other drugs;
• High physical activity;
• The conditions of life 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.

It is rare, but it happens that neutrophils are lowered in a child due to mistakes made while giving blood for analysis, for example, the baby is very overexcited or abundantly fed. In such cases it is recommended to repeat the analysis.

Infections causing a decrease in neutrophils

Diseases in which children are recorded a decrease in the level of neutrophils, the following:

• tuberculosis;
• Bacterial endocarditis;
• chickenpox;
• flu;
• AIDS;
• measles;
• hepatitis;
• rubella;
• Typhus 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:

• Myelocaeca (hereditary disease, in which the output of neutrophils from the bone marrow is disturbed);
• Kostman's disease (malfunctions during the maturation of neutrophils);
• Aplasia or bone marrow hypoplasia;
• Damage to its tissues by drugs.

Symptoms

The nature of the manifestations depends on the reasons for which the neutrophils in the child are reduced. If it is a bacterial infection, the symptoms of neutropenia will be the same as those of the concomitant disease. Sometimes the only symptoms of a decrease in the level of neutrophils are fast fatigue of the child, weakness, excessive sweating and frequent colds. More complex forms of neutropenia are manifested by frequent gingivitis, stomatitis, periodontitis, multiple pustular lesions on the skin. Severe forms of lowering neutrophils are accompanied by fever and high fever. If very small 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 or three years of age.

Treatment

When the blood test showed that neutrophils are lowered, the child is trying to correctly determine the cause of deviation from the norm and take measures to eliminate it. This is the first step in the treatment of neutropenia. The second step is to strengthen the immune system of a small patient, because with reduced neutrophils, it is usually in a depressed state. Children are prescribed complexes of vitamins, sparing regimen, improved nutrition. With accompanying stomatitis, periodontal disease, gingivitis, rinsing of the oral cavity with bactericidal solutions, chlorhexidine, decoctions of chamomile, St. John's wort. Also, a doctor can prescribe antibiotics. If neutropenia occurs in severe form, a blood transfusion is possible . In those cases where neutrophils are less than 500 in one microlitre of blood, antibiotic therapy is performed regardless of the reason for the occurrence of neutropenia.