Changes in morphology of white blood cells on peripheral smear in COVID-19 infection

Authors

  • Garima Agarwal Department of Pathology, SMSR, Sharda University Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Shubhangi Gupta Department of Pathology, SMSR, Sharda University Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Natasha Singh Department of Pathology, SMSR, Sharda University Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Salony Mittal Department of Pathology, SMSR, Sharda University Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Atul Verma Department of Pathology, SMSR, Sharda University Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Manjit S. Bindra Department of Pathology, SMSR, Sharda University Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Gaurav Garg Department of Pathology, Government Institute Uttar Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20213087

Keywords:

COVID-19, Neutrophilia, Blebbing, Lymphopenia, Toxic granules, Vacuolation

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus, and has spread around the world in a deadly pandemic. The first case of COVID-19 was reported from Wuhan, China in December 2019. This is also called as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) because of its homology with SARS virus. The most common hematological manifestation of coronavirus is lymphopenia which is due to depletion of lymphocytes by coronavirus infection. Other manifestations are neutrophilia and mild thrombocytopenia. Literature is full of quantitative hematological parameters but the researches on morphology of white blood cells is still ongoing. We at our institute done study on 60 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19, and analyzed those peripheral smears in terms of morphology of white blood cells.

Methods: The study was done using peripheral smear staining with methylene blue stain and was screened for various changes in white blood cells in peripheral smear.

Results: Changes in the white blood cells were examined in the peripheral smear and findings were made in the tabular form.

Conclusions: To conclude that all these changes are due to the virus infecting them or are secondary to pathogenesis of COVID disease, needs to be evaluated by larger studies.

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Published

2021-07-28

How to Cite

Agarwal, G., Gupta, S., Singh, N., Mittal, S., Verma, A., Bindra, M. S., & Garg, G. (2021). Changes in morphology of white blood cells on peripheral smear in COVID-19 infection. International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 9(8), 2393–2396. https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20213087

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Section

Original Research Articles