“In how much time should an infection show up in the blood count report?”
My little girl who is 5 years old seems to be suffering from a viral infection. Though the infection has not yet showed up in her blood count report, the symptoms seem like a viral. In how much time should the infection start showing up in the blood test reports?
3 Answers
24 to 48 hours
It depends where the infection is, for example:
{} Pneumonia (lung infection) may have a positive blood culture also called bacteremia (isolation of bacteria from a blood sample) in some patients, although most with pneumonia will not have concurrent bacteremia.
{} Cellulitis and abscesses (skin infection) - most patients over 70 to 80% will not have bacteremia
{} UTI, especially bladder infections are not accompanied by bacteremia, albeit, kidney infection (pyelonephritis) it is not uncommon to have a positive blood culture.
{} Bacterial meningitis may also occur with isolation of the bacteria from the blood.
High white blood cell counts is often an indication if invasive infection, however, WBC may be elevated due to a host of reasons other than an infection.
{} Pneumonia (lung infection) may have a positive blood culture also called bacteremia (isolation of bacteria from a blood sample) in some patients, although most with pneumonia will not have concurrent bacteremia.
{} Cellulitis and abscesses (skin infection) - most patients over 70 to 80% will not have bacteremia
{} UTI, especially bladder infections are not accompanied by bacteremia, albeit, kidney infection (pyelonephritis) it is not uncommon to have a positive blood culture.
{} Bacterial meningitis may also occur with isolation of the bacteria from the blood.
High white blood cell counts is often an indication if invasive infection, however, WBC may be elevated due to a host of reasons other than an infection.
An increase in lymphocytes in the white blood cell compartment of blood often accompanies viral infections. However, the increase may not rise above the upper limit of normal for certain viral infections (rhinoviruses, coronaviruses) or with other mild viral infections. Typically, when white cell counts increase above the upper limit of normal (i.e., lymphocytes), it is concurrent with the onset of signs and symptoms. Viral infections causing fever are almost always associated with an increased white cell count.
