How to diagnose viral infection in blood routine test

Many people tend to confuse viral infections with bacterial infections, but in fact these are two completely different infectious diseases. Compared with bacterial infections, viral infections cause more serious consequences, so it is important to stop viral infections from developing into more serious areas in a timely manner. A blood test can effectively detect whether a patient has a viral infection, so how does a blood test look at the viral infection status?

If the patient has a fever or other inflammatory symptoms, it generally indicates inflammation. If the blood test results show that the white blood cell count, neutrophil count, and C-reactive protein are not high, viral infection should be considered. If the white blood cell count and neutrophil count in our blood routine are not high and the C-reactive protein is normal, this can be used to diagnose a viral infection, provided that there are inflammatory symptoms. The neutrophil count and lymphocyte count are both within the normal range. At this time, if the patient has a fever or runny nose, sneezing, or coughing, it is generally considered that a viral infection is likely.

From a professional perspective, bacterial infection is mainly characterized by a significant increase in neutrophil counts, while viral infection is mainly characterized by an increase in lymphocyte counts. Combined with the patient's current symptoms, we can infer what the main infection is. A routine blood test can preliminarily determine whether it is a bacterial infection or a viral infection, but it may require a pathogen test to determine which infection it is. If the percentage of white blood cells and neutrophils is high, bacterial infection is more likely to be considered.

As a routine examination item, a routine blood test is performed to check the white blood cell, neutrophil percentage, lymphocyte percentage and C-reactive protein. If there is a bacterial infection, the white blood cell, neutrophil, C-reactive protein, etc. will increase. If there is a viral infection, the lymphocyte percentage will increase, and the others will not be high. Generally speaking, if it is a bacterial infection, most of the symptoms will be an increase in neutrophils and increased CRP. However, after viral infection, some of the symptoms will be an increase in lymphocyte count, but the white blood cells will not be too abnormal and the C-reactive protein will not be elevated. Therefore, according to the report, it does seem to be a viral infection. You can consult professional medical personnel for timely and effective symptomatic treatment.