Platelet or also known as thrombocyte is one of the most important cells from our body. The main function for platelets is to prevent bleeding by forming a blood clot. It originates from the bone marrow. Hence, any disease that affects the bone marrow might have an effect on platelet’s function. Speaking of diseases, there are some common diseases that can be associated with low platelet count. However, the most common disease that is well known and shows low platelet reading is dengue fever. Dengii fever is one of the dangerous fevers that is often found in tropical countries such as our country. It is caused by a dengue virus and the infection is transmitted by a mosquito as the vector. This is the reason why countries with subtropical and tropical environments will be the ones that record so many dengue fever cases.
Currently, there is no cure for this type of fever. Early detection and also prevention are one of the effective ways to cure and prevent this disease. Usually, people that are infected with dengue fever will develop symptoms after a few days of mosquito bite. The usual symptoms for dengue fever include fever, rash, body ache, malaise, headache and also nausea. However, dengue fever is also feared because it can be fatal. Those with a late-stage dengue fever will often have a low platelet count level, hence making them susceptible to bleeding episodes. However, as mentioned above, dengue fever is not the only disease that will give low platelet count reading. There are some other common diseases that give the same reading. Here are some of the diseases with low platelet count as one of the signs:
1. Leukemia
Leukemia is a cancer of bone marrow or body lymphatic tissue. It usually affects the bone marrow, so it will also affect the nature of white blood cells and platelets since these cells originate from there. Due to leukemia, the bone marrow will produce immature cells, causing them to malfunction. This is the reason why patients with leukemia will have problems with their blood cells. Usually, the symptoms for leukemia patients include fever, fatigue, frequent infection, easy bruising, bleeding episodes such as bleeding nose, weight loss, excessive sweating and also in some cases bone pain. There are many treatments that can be done if you are diagnosed with leukemia. However, the treatment for his patient will be decided by the type and severity of the disease itself. Usually, a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the most common treatment for this type of illness.
2. Anemia
Anemia is a condition where the body is having low levels of red blood cells. Some types of anemia may also give out signs such as having low platelet levels because some anemic diseases will be related to blood cell level. For anemia, the usual symptoms might be fatigue, lethargy, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, chest pain, dizziness or lightheadedness. Treatments for anemia usually aim to reduce the symptoms. So, any treatments such as oxygen, iron medication, pain reliever and also IV fluid are some of the common treatments.
3. Viral infection
Apart from dengue fever that is caused by a dengue virus, some other viral infections are also associated with low platelet count. The symptoms for these types of infections are usually the same with dengue fever, making it confusing to diagnose without using the diagnostic method such as blood test. In order to treat the low platelet level, doctors will need to treat the disease itself. So, their focus will be to treat the infection as fast as possible and the platelet count will return back to normal.
