What Causes Neutrophilia?

Neutrophilia is a term used to describe a condition where there are too many neutrophils circulating in the blood. Between forty and sixty percent of all white blood cells in the body are neutrophils. Neutrophils are the first to respond to foreign pathogens that invade into the body. When cells around the body become damaged, chemokines are released and attract neutrophils to the site. Neutrophils mediate foreign pathogens by undergoing the processes of endocytosis and phagocytosis or engulfing the pathogens. Once engulfed, specialized enzymes in neutrophils induce the destruction of the pathogen. A healthy individual typically has between 2500 and 7500 neutrophils per microliter of blood. Neutrophilia has numerous causes that can be classified into three groups. Reactive neutrophilia is an active response to stress or infection. Proliferative neutrophilia happens when some mechanism causes the bone marrow to overproduce neutrophils. Demargination occurs when specific neutrophils detach from the blood vessel lining and remain circulating in the blood.