Typically a healthy person has a white blood cell count of about 4,000-11,000. Patients with acute or even chronic leukemia may come in with a white blood cell count up into the 100,000-400,000 range.

What happens to WBC in leukemia?

Leukemia usually involves the white blood cells. Your white blood cells are potent infection fighters — they normally grow and divide in an orderly way, as your body needs them. But in people with leukemia, the bone marrow produces an excessive amount of abnormal white blood cells, which don't function properly.

Does WBC increase or decrease with leukemia?

In patients with leukemia, cell growth goes "haywire," and there is a rapid growth of abnormal white blood cells. So inside the bone marrow, blood cells are beginning to multiply and divide into red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.