A fresh look at bone marrow changes in kala-azar
Chatterjee, S.N.
Indian Journal of Pathology and Microbiology 21(2): 157-164
1978
ISSN/ISBN: 0377-4929 PMID: 730272 Document Number: 126956
Samples of peripheral blood and bone marrow were taken from 280 patients with clinically diagnosed kala-azar. In patients in the early stage of the disease total and differential white cell counts were normal in many cases. The marrow showed normoblastic hyperplasia and diminished leucopoesis in about half the cases, in a quarter the cellularity was increased and in the other quarter it was normal. In intermediate- and late-stage patients the marrow was consistently hypoplastic with relative lympho- and monocytosis, and increased numbers of macrophages. In nearly 16% there was megakaryocytopenia with haemorrhagic tendency, whereas in about 5% a megaloblastic reaction was apparent. All but 12 of the 280 patients had Leishman-Donovan bodies in marrow smears.