WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF A LOW BLOOD COUNT?
A child with a low blood count is likely to be irritable, unusually sleepy, and pale with a rapid heart beat. If the fingernails do not have any pink color even when the fingers are warm, the child is pale. A child can have a seriously low blood count without many symptoms. Sometimes the only symptom is that the child is less active. AT WHAT AGE DO PROBLEMS WITH THE SPLEEN USUALLY OCCUR? Babies and young children are at greatest risk of splenic sequestration and septicaemia. Complications can occur as young as 2 months of age, but usually occur between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. As children get older the spleen becomes smaller. Eventually it cannot enlarge anymore. CAN SPLENIC SEQUESTRATION HAPPEN MORE THAN ONCE? Yes. A child who has one episode of splenic sequestrations is likely to have other episodes. WHAT IS THE TREATMENT FOR SPLENIC SEQUESTRATION? If the blood count is dangerously low, then blood transfusion is the treatment. If a child has several episodes, surgery to remo
