About Neutropenia

This part of the site is to try and express in plain English, what we have come to understand about Neutropenia. Our hope is that by simply putting down what we know about Neutropenia you will be able to understand easily what Neutropenia is about. We hope that this will help you to explain what the condition is and what its symptoms are. We are not trying to express a medical opinion, so you should discuss the contents with your doctor, and email us if you believe any of the contents to be in error. Several sites which may also be of benefit are listed at the end of this page.

Neutropenia is a condition in which the part of the blood that protects a person from germs (called the immune system) doesn't work properly. Specifically, people who have neutropenia don't have a particular type of white blood cell - called neutrophils (pronounced NEW TROH FILS) - which helps the body to kill germs - especially bacteria. This means that people with neutropenia are more likely to get sick from bacteria than other people (even good bacteria that is normally helpful in digestion, skin care, etc.). People with neutropenia just don't have the same abilities to kill and control bacteria that other people have.

Not everyone who has neutropenia has the same kind of neutropenia. Some people are born with it, others get it from taking medicines, some people get it after they have been sick, and still others get it from unknown things (because even though doctors are really smart, it is hard to know everything there is to know about something so wonderful and complicated as the human body).

The basic types of neutropenia are listed below (with their big scary medical names):

Congenital neutropenia: This is the kind that some people have when they are born, though it is very rare. The most severe form - which keeps coming back - is called Kostmann's syndrome.

Cyclic neutropenia: People with this rare type have a low number of neutrophils every three weeks - and this usually lasts for three to six days at a time. So for three weeks they will be fine - and then for 3 to 6 days they will have a low number of neutrophils and a much higher risk of getting sick (infected) from bacteria.

Idiopathic neutropenia: This rare type normally comes about as a result of being sick. Often, doctors say that a person has this condition if the person is getting really sick all the time, and they can't attribute the symptoms the person has to other diseases.

Autoimmune neutropenia: This type is more common in infants and young children, and luckily they can often grow out of it, or it at least gets better after two years. In this case, the persons body gets confused, and incorrectly identifies the persons neutrophil cells as enemies. Then it starts making other cells to attack and destroy the persons neutrophils!

Drug-induced neutropenia: happens when someone has been taking medications that have a possible adverse side effect of lowering the white blood cell count. Not all medicatoions cause neutropenia and even the ones that do don't cause neutropenia in every person. The most important thing is to ask your doctor about the medicines you take.

Doctors are able to measure how bad a persons neutropenia is by measuring the amount of neutrophils in their blood. Unfortunately they can't make this measurement without taking some of the persons blood out of them! This involves needles - and lots of tests.

Doctors will be able to look at a blood test and depending on the number of neutrophils present, they will classify the neutropenia as either being mild, moderate or severe at that time.

It is important to remember that the amount of neutrophils in the blood might change from time to time - and so for any person suffering from neutropenia they might be mild on one day, severe on another day and moderate severity on another day! The levels of neutrophils may go up and down, and so there are good days, and bad days. On the good days, there are lots of neutrophils and a low risk of infection from bacteria, and on the bad days there are few neutrophils and a high risk of infection from bacteria.