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COMPLETE BLOOD COUNT (CBC)
Also printed as: White blood cells · Leukocytes · WBC
Educational only — not medical advice.
WBC counts the immune cells circulating in your blood at the moment of the draw. They are your body's response team for infection, injury, and inflammation. The count moves quickly, sometimes within hours.
A total WBC is a headline; the differential — neutrophils, lymphocytes and the rest — is the article. Your doctor reads the two together, along with how you feel.
TYPICAL ADULT RANGE
Many labs report roughly 4.0–11.0 K/µL for adults. Ranges vary by lab and by ancestry — some healthy people simply run lower. Reported in K/µL.
Reference ranges vary by lab, by method, and by age and sex. Always read your own result against the range printed on your report.
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A modestly low WBC is often normal for the person. Benign ethnic neutropenia is common and healthy, particularly in people of African, Middle Eastern, or West Indian ancestry. Recent viral infections lower the count for weeks afterward, and several everyday medications do the same. If the count is new for you, keeps dropping, or comes with repeated infections, that pattern is worth bringing to your doctor for a look at the differential.
A high WBC most often means your immune system is doing exactly its job — a cold, a healing cut, a dental issue, or an allergy flare will raise it. Physical stress does too: a hard workout, a poor night of sleep, pain, smoking, and pregnancy all nudge it up, and steroid medications raise it reliably. A count that stays elevated once you are well is the kind of thing your doctor will want to recheck with a differential.
Your doctor is the one who can read this number against your history, symptoms, and medications.
Educational only — not medical advice. Lab results only mean something alongside your history, symptoms, medications, and the rest of your panel. Bring questions to your doctor; they are the one who can interpret your results for you.
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