C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase reactant protein. Under normal circumstances, it is present in small amounts in body fluids. It increases to varying degrees during infectious diseases and holds significant clinical application value.
In recent years, with the rapid development of point-of-care testing (POCT) technology, the application of C-reactive protein in clinical infectious diseases has become more widespread, once again becoming a focal point of clinical research.
The complete blood count is one of the three routine laboratory tests and is also a common auxiliary examination method used by physicians to diagnose conditions.
Physicians assess diseases by observing changes in the number and morphological distribution of blood cells. For infectious diseases, physicians typically judge based on changes in the white blood cell (WBC) count.
There is a high correlation between CRP and WBC. For bacterial infections, they often manifest as elevated body temperature, CRP, and WBC. However, due to the generally lower immunity in children and their imperfect stress response mechanisms, they often lack a robust response capacity when facing infections.
Furthermore, the normal range for WBC in pediatric complete blood counts is relatively wide. For children with an inherently low baseline WBC count, as long as the magnitude of the WBC increase is not substantial, it generally does not exceed the upper limit of the normal range. Additionally, WBC values are highly susceptible to external factors such as emotions and temperature. Therefore, relying solely on a complete blood count makes it difficult to determine whether a child has a bacterial infection. Consequently, due to its characteristics such as simple operation, rapid detection, and low sample volume requirements, CRP is often used by physicians in conjunction with a complete blood count to differentiate between bacterial and viral infections.
The combined detection of CRP and complete blood count can also provide better guidance for clinical medication use. It is well known that inappropriate use of antibiotics can lead to numerous adverse reactions in patients, increase the number of drug-resistant strains within the body, and in severe cases, may lead to various adverse outcomes. Therefore, the rational use of antibiotics has become a concern for physicians.
Currently, physicians can rely on the combined results of CRP and complete blood count tests to accurately assess the patient's infection status:
When the test results show both CRP and WBC count are elevated, the use of corresponding antibiotics can be considered for treatment.
When CRP and WBC count are within the normal range, antibiotics should be avoided or used sparingly as much as possible, and corresponding treatment should be given based on the patient's clinical symptoms.
For patients with different trends in CRP and WBC count changes, appropriate follow-up observation work must be conducted, after all, changes in CRP are not the sole basis for initiating or discontinuing antibiotics.
Thus, it is evident that CRP testing plays a crucial role in identifying the type of infection in patients. It not only increases the speed of identification, winning valuable treatment time for patients, but also provides better guidance for medication use, offering strong protection for patient medication safety. Therefore, it is worthy of clinical promotion and widespread application.