Does a high white blood cell count mean you have cancer?

Answer 1

Your body could be fighting an infection and it's up to the doctor to send you for blood tests to try and find out what type of infection. People with high cases of Allergies can also have high white blood cell counts.

Answer 2

If you had no white cells, you would get lots of very serious infections. White blood cells can find germs that enter your body and destroy them, which keeps them from making you sick. Some white blood cells make antibodies, which are special molecules that can stick to germs and make them harmless.

White blood cells also help repair damaged tissue, which is important in wound healing. White blood cells can even keep certain types of cancers from developing. A single drop of blood contains nearly half a million white blood cells, so your body has to make lots of them every day.

White blood cells are made in the soft, inner part of your bones called the marrow, and some of them develop further in a special gland in your chest called the thymus. It is very rare for a person to be born unable to make white blood cells.

In the past, such babies usually died of overwhelming infections soon after birth. Some of these babies can now be cured by taking bone marrow or thymus tissue from another person (called a donor) and putting it (transplanting it) into the baby's body. This gives them the ability to make white blood cells of their own, which protects them from infection and lets them live a long life.

Sometimes, people who are given chemotherapy drugs to fight cancer, are exposed to large amounts of radiation, or have an illness that damages their bone marrow, become unable to make white blood cells anymore. They may be given special medicines to try to boost their white blood cells, and antibiotics to prevent or treat infections.

If their bone marrow doesn't start making white blood cells again, then they too may need to be treated with a bone marrow transplant.

Answer 3

Not necessarily. A high WBC count indicates some sort of infection/disease. Eg: Appendicitis gives you a high count.

Answer 4

that's bad. it

means your immune system is very bad. you will most likely get sick easy.

Answer 5

It means that there are high possibility of infection in the body

Answer 6

reduced white cell count impacts on immune system.

Answer 7

You have 4,000 to 10,000 white blood cells per cubic mm in your blood. That is called as normal white blood cell count.

Answer 8

Not always. Many times a high white count is a sign of an infection. Some types of blood cancers, like leukemia have high white counts.

Answer 9

no!! but it is often associated with an infection of some type.