High white blood count

[Tedswife]

male - 61 years old. on 2/2/10 had bilateral knee replacement. has been have fevers just about everyday around 102 -103. He is given tylenol for the chills- high fever. the dr checked his urine & blood. He does have a urinary track infection. One of his know was more inflamed than the other. They decided to drain the knee on 2/17 which had old blood in it.  The white blood count was 15,000 on 2/15 and today, 2/17 it is down to 12,000. The dr says it is an infection & is looking for the source. He checked the prostrate which was slightly enlarged & was not painful.  checked abdomen, no pain.. He is on antibiotics which started on 2/15. What can be the cause of his high white cell blood count?

[denicalis]

Well if all of his other blood results came back normal and only his white blood cell count was high it would be pointing to an infection. A very high white blood cell count would indicate a serious infection. You may want to see another specialist or doctor.

If it were to be cancer or another problem, which it still may be, I would consider a more thorough blood test, you would see red bloods cells and platelets at a very low count also indicating a blood disease since you are on these forums I am thinking maybe that is what you are wondering.

I would see another doctor. If possible. There is not enough information in this post I don't think.

[Ken_PA]

well, the likely cause is a bacterial infection, from the surgery or maybe from a catheter, or both

the body increases the number of white blood cells to fight the invading bacteria. You can also look at the subtypes - e.g. if neutrophils mainly account for the increase