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Getting started
The Basics
Reactive changes
Sources
of Error
Practice Quiz |
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Viral
infections
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Lymphocytosis
is the hallmark of a viral infection.
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No, we don't use the term right-shifted
differential.
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Many of the lymphocytes will
demonstrate reactive features, which
we unfortunately referred to as "atypical changes."
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We now reserve the term "atypical"
for disturbances in maturation, even suggesting (dysplasia). Unfortunately,
this misapplied term will be with us for a long time.
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As with the rise in PMNs with
a bacterial infection, the lymphocytosis of a viral infection can be striking.
Values of up to 20,000 are possible.
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Mononucleosis
is the quintessential example. The irony is that the cells for which this
disease is named are actually lymphocytes and not monocytes at all.
What about the scatter
plot?
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