Also known as Thrombocyte, PLT
Platelets are the smallest cells in blood and their job is clotting — they clump at the site of an injury and form the initial plug that stops bleeding. A platelet count is part of a standard blood test.
Platelets are fragments shed from large cells in the bone marrow, without a nucleus of their own. When a vessel wall is damaged they stick to the exposed surface, change shape, and recruit more platelets until a plug forms — the first stage of clotting, before the fibrin mesh that reinforces it. A normal count runs roughly from 150,000 to 400,000 per microlitre, and it is reported as part of a .
A low count is called thrombocytopenia. It matters locally because a infection is one of its common causes, and in dengue in particular the platelet count is tracked daily — falling platelets alongside a rising haematocrit mark the phase when plasma leaks from the circulation. The count alone does not decide treatment; the trend, the fluid status and the presence of bleeding do.
An such as aspirin reduces platelet function for the life of the platelet, which is both the basis of its use in heart disease and a reason it is avoided where bleeding is a concern — including in suspected dengue.
Tests & Diagnostics
Line by line through a CBC report — haemoglobin, MCV, the white cell differential and platelets — with what a flagged value usually means and what it does not.
29 Aug 202612 min read
Infectious Diseases
Most dengue is survived at home. The danger opens on days three to seven, usually as the fever falls. These are the warning signs that mean hospital now.
28 Aug 202614 min read
Pediatrics
A fever is the body fighting an infection. Most settle at home. These are the signs that mean go now, how to dose paracetamol safely, and what not to do.
28 Aug 202611 min read
Medicines & Safety
The safe adult maximum is 4 g in 24 hours. Above that it damages the liver, and for the first day or two an overdose causes almost no symptoms at all.
28 Aug 202611 min read
