Blood ranges?

Question

ok im writing a report..

i need ur help on this..cos i want to comment on the readings..

for instance, if reference range of basophils in a normal person is 0.5%-0.9%..and the actual number is 0.9%..can i say that it is on the high end though its normal and make deductions like have parasitic infection?

OR

0.9% is still normal..

same goes for other WBC like 50%-68%(normal reference range) segemented neutrophils

Answer 1

Reference ranges can point you in directions but they are generally not diagnostic in themselves.  Given your example of a parasitic infection, you are most likely to have a raised eosinophil count but this could also be caused by many other things like allergies so you wouldn't make a diagnosis of a parasitic infection on a count along.  A high basophil count can be seen in chronic myeloid leukaemia.  A high lymphocyte count could be a viral infection or it could be a lymphoproliferative disorder (like chronic lymphocytic leukaemia).  What is normal for some people can sit slightly out of the normal reference ranges.  Blood test results need to be interpreted as part of the whole picture so you need to be careful about making diagnoses based on counts alone.  If you did see parasites like malaria or filaria on someone's blood film then that would be a definate diagnosis regardless of what their counts were.

Hope you get my drift.