Warning Signs Of Childhood Cancers

Frequent Infections

A child who is affected by certain types of cancer may present with frequent and persistent infections that do not seem to improve with multiple rounds of treatment. An individual's immune system is made of multiple types of white blood cells that help identify, capture, and eliminate foreign substances and pathogens from the body. When the levels of these white blood cells become low due to some mechanism, the individual's body will be less able to fight off infections. White blood cells are mostly made in bone marrow, the soft spongy tissues housed in the hollow canal of the bones. An individual's thymus gland, spleen, and lymph nodes are also the site of production for some types of white blood cells. Cancer in a child that develops in their bone marrow or blood can cause the rapid and continuous destruction of white blood cells. Cancer that develops in the bone marrow can also hinder the production of new white blood cells, which also causes the child to have a compromised immune system. The child is more vulnerable to frequent infections in such conditions because their body does not have the normal mechanisms needed to defend itself.

Reveal additional warning signs of childhood cancers now.