Monocytes are specific white blood cells that perform a protective function of the body, they make up from 3 to 11 percent of the total number of white blood cells in our body. They are the first to respond aggressively to the introduction of a foreign agent. If the monocytes are elevated , this is called monocytosis. And if lowered - monopenia. The decrease can be caused by various reasons: pyogenic infection, childbirth, shock after taking glucocorticoid.
Both monocytosis and monopenia suggest that the body is unhealthy and requires medical manipulation. Monocytes are elevated in diseases such as infectious mononucleosis, tuberculosis, as well as for viral diseases such as rubella, mumps and severe sepsis. Monocytosis is also characteristic of malignant diseases of the lymphatic system, for example, leukemia.
Thus, if monocytes are elevated in an adult, then this is most often a sign of the above diseases. It is not so easy to treat these diseases, because combating them requires a lot of time, medicines, patience and financial expenses. And diseases such as leukemia do not guarantee a 100% recovery. Therefore, monocytosis must be taken very seriously and in no case should be ignored. But sometimes the increase in monocytes is insignificant, in such cases, the body can cope with this violation itself. For example, with tuberculosis. The World Health Organization pays large sums of money to many countries to combat this disease, so this level of its spread began to decline significantly, which is a great achievement in this field of medicine.
Also, the defenders of our body are other lymphocytes, which are divided into T-lymphocytes, B-lymphocytes and NK. They are all a specific defense of the body. T-lymphocytes are also divided into two groups: T-helpers and T-suppressors. Each variety has its own specific function. B-lymphocytes are responsible for humoral immunity, that is, they produce substances that spread through the blood stream and react with a foreign agent and destroy these agents. An increase in lymphocytes in medicine is called lymphocytosis. Lymphocytes and monocytes are elevated in diseases such as sepsis, malignant tumors and infectious diseases.
With viral diseases, rubella and infectious mononucleosis, which often occurs in childhood, will increase monocytes in laboratory tests, which is a pathognomonic sign of these diseases. What pediatricians are sure to pay attention to. Tests where an increase or decrease in monocytes, lymphocytes and white blood cells are detected is called a white blood cell formula. The normative values of these cells vary slightly in different groups of people (races, ethnicity, nation), but these differences are insignificant. But WHO (World Health Organization) at every world congresses corrects these values and takes certain values as a standard. Monocytes, for example, normally range from 6 to 8 percent, lymphocytes from 25 to 30 percent, all other percentages are white blood cells, basophils, eosinophils, neutrophils. If a doctor discovers in laboratory tests that monocytes are elevated, he will necessarily differentiate between infectious diseases, malignant neoplasms (leukemia) and inflammatory processes.
Summing up, we can say that the body is such a unique system that it can itself fight foreign agents, but with the serious illnesses mentioned in this article, the body needs the intervention of a doctor. And here such markers as monocytes, lymphocytes, which serve as faithful helpers of the body, come to the rescue.