Do people with leukemia still get puss in infections?
I know how wrong this sounds and it is quite a complex question, but I know that puss in spots or infections is made up of bugs and dead white blood cells that fought to get rid of the infection. And people with leukemia don't have any white blood cells so do they still get puss if they have an infection or something?
- Memere RN/BA
They still have an immune system that will fight infections. The immune system sees the infection as foreign so yes it will work. With leukemia you have white blood cells the difference is that they are immature white cells and produce at a rapid rate where they cannot do any good only harm. The immune system doesn't recognize this as harmful because it's part of the person's body and so won't fight it off. That's why a bone marrow transplant is often needed so healthy cells can begin to be produced and stop the production of immature white cells that are useless in fighting anything.
- SLC Mom
People with an extremely low white count may not produce a lot of pus. As you think, there just aren't a lot of cells to do it. This would really only apply during the times post-chemotherapy when the white count is really low (approx <1000)
Symptoms of infection are more subtle in these people and any fever or other symptom of infection should be treated very seriously.
Leukemia — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment of this blood-related cancer.
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