[neilep (OP)]

Dear all,


As a sheepy I of course know everything there is to know about my immune system . It's obvious isn't it ? Wooly Cloud With Legs = Complete Knowledge of Everything......... Obvious....blatant even !!!


HOWEVER, as the proud proprietor of more than 10 white blood cells I realised a gap in my scholarship.....What happens to White Blood Cells After They Have Defeated Bacteria ?...do they just carry on doing their thing or go for an MOT** ?...or retire ?


 
Whajafink ?








**M.O.T =a test that any vehicle in the UK over three years old must take in order to make sure that it is safe and in good condition (the abbreviation for Ministry of Transport?

[Halc]

Blood cells (of any type) are fairly short lived, so the white cell counts go down by attrition and lack of many more being produced after their need is gone.  The counts return to normal levels around 5-25 days after infection is cleared, depending on the sort of infection involved.

Red cells might live 4 months. White cells have a life expectancy of only a few days, so if you stop making them in abnormal quantities, their numbers quickly decrease to normal levels.

I have given a unit of red blood cells, and that has the longest wait time before I'm allowed to donate again. Giving whole blood, plasma, platelets, all have shorter wait times.
I've not heard of giving white cells, but I know that early in the covid days before the vaccines came out, whole blood from a person who had recently gotten over a covid infection was in serious demand to serve as a treatment for the more dire cases.

[neilep (OP)]

Blood cells (of any type) are fairly short lived, so the white cell counts go down by attrition and lack of many more being produced after their need is gone.  The counts return to normal levels around 5-25 days after infection is cleared, depending on the sort of infection involved.

Red cells might live 4 months. White cells have a life expectancy of only a few days, so if you stop making them in abnormal quantities, their numbers quickly decrease to normal levels.

I have given a unit of red blood cells, and that has the longest wait time before I'm allowed to donate again. Giving whole blood, plasma, platelets, all have shorter wait times.
I've not heard of giving white cells, but I know that early in the covid days before the vaccines came out, whole blood from a person who had recently gotten over a covid infection was in serious demand to serve as a treatment for the more dire cases.

I too donate blood. Every three months. Not allowed to do any sooner here in the UK. A nurse once told me that she was not a fan of blood donation as it puts a strain on the bone marrow !....anyway. Thank you Halc. Could a white blood cell come to the end of it's life whilst it is fighting bacteria ?...do they just get reabsorbed ?

Thank you chum

[Halc]

Could a white blood cell come to the end of it's life whilst it is fighting bacteria ?...do they just get reabsorbed ?

Soldiers die in the fight. Some live through the battle and die of natural causes.
A dead cell leaves litter and nutrients that either get absorbed by something or more likely filtered out by the kidneys. It's part of why it's so important to drink when sick. Kidneys are working overtime, yelling "bring out your dead!" and need water to do it.

[paul cotter]

A couple of additions needed here. In the case of most, but not all, bacterial infections the leucocyte count rises dramatically and a raised count is a warning sign of bacterial infection. Leucocytes come in three types, (1) neutrophils, (2) basophils and (3) eosinophils. It is the neutrophils that are responsible for engulfing and hopefully neutralising bacteria. Of the cells other than red cells there are quite a range that could be classed as non-red, hence white cells. There are lymphocytes, macrophages and monocytes in addition to the leucocytes and most of these come from the bone marrow. A transfusion of cells other than red cells would not be a good idea as all foreign cells will potentially come under attack from the recipient's immune system and foreign lymphocytes could attack the recipient through the "graft versus host" phenomenon. Obviously some cells other than red do get transfused and although rare a reaction can happen even with careful red cell matching(a, b, ab,o). In the case of covid what was in demand was the serum of recovered patient because they would have high titres of anti covid antibodies. Whole blood may have been transfused if time was short but the antibody containing serum is what was desired and not any cells.