Why is the answer B? (please describe in depth) 22 year old male presents to the

Question

Why is the answer B? (please describe in depth)

22 year old male presents to the ER at BigGreat Hospital. He has been working outside all day digging and planting for his landscaping job. He presents with headache, dizziness, abdominal cramps, vomiting, and confusion. What will his CBC show?

A. RBC & WBC normal, Hgb & Hct high, MCV & MCH normal

B. RBC & WBC high, Hgb & Hct high, MCV & MCH normal

C. RBC & WBC low, Hgb & Hct normal, MCV & MCH low

D. RBC & WBC high, Hgb & Hct normal, MCV & MCH normal

Explanation / Answer

Answer. His RBCs and WBCs have increased due to the stress caused by tiredness, vomitting and abdominal cramps.

There is a disorder associated with the RBC known as stress erythrocytosis in which the number of deoxygenated haemoglobin molecules increases means inspite of carrying oxygen it will be carrying deoxygenated haemoglobin. This causes an increase in RBC count.

As he is showing the signs and symptoms of infection in the body definitely his WBC will increase. Because these are the indicators of infection in the body.

Hgb is his haemoglobin content, and we have seen that it has increased due to the stress erythrocytosis.

Hgc or haemocrit refers to the volume of red blood cells compared to the total blood volume. RBCs count has increased in comparison to other cells in the plasma, thus Hgc will also be high.

Average red blood cell size or MCV and haemoglobin amount per red blood cell or MCH will be normal in this case because these are the indicators of anemia means in which low RBC count occurs, which is not valid in this case as his RBC count has been increased.

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