Shingles and lymphocyte count

[MrMidnight]

I was diagnosed with shingles three months ago. I had a blood test a couple of days ago and my lymphocyte count had risen from 2 to 6.7 over three months. I have read a study which says shingles can raise lymphocyte counts for months afterwards.

I have CLL and am on a clinical trial for zanubrutinib. Any advice on whether this is true or not?

[AussieNeil Administrator]

This small study? pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/161...

I couldn't find much other research. Ask your specialist if they consider a immunophenotype blood test is worthwhile. This test will report the count of B and T lymphocytes. Your B lymphocyte count is likely to be low because you've been taking zanubrutinib for over 4 years, so hopefully it is just your T lymphocytes that have increased.

Neil

[MrMidnight in reply to AussieNeil]

Thanks, Neil, for that advice. The haematologist didn't seem too concerned given the count has bounced around a bit (from 4.2 six months ago, then 2.0 three months ago...) but he suggested another blood test in a month's time if I was worried.

We briefly discussed venetoclax if I am progressing but I guess it would require much more investigation before that was concluded to be the case, including a CT scan to see if nodes had increased or new ones had popped up.