Monocytes clear cellular material
Biomarker library
Full Blood Count
Monocyte count
Monocytes are the immune system's clean-up crew. They circulate for a day or so, then move into tissues and mature into macrophages, which swallow bacteria, dead cells and debris.
Measured in your health assessment, with a doctor to explain your result. Book yours
Why it matters
Macrophages also repair tissue and signal to the rest of the immune system. In artery walls they are the cells that fill with cholesterol and become the foam cells of plaque, one of the links between inflammation and heart disease.
What a result can mean
Lower than the range
A low count on its own is uncommon. It can follow steroid treatment, some cancer treatments or rare bone-marrow conditions.
Higher than the range
Higher counts are seen during recovery from infection, with long-lasting infections such as tuberculosis, with inflammatory bowel disease and other inflammatory conditions, and occasionally with blood disorders.
What can help
An isolated, mild change is rarely significant and is usually rechecked. Treating the underlying infection or inflammation brings the count back.
Read it with
NoteGeneral educational illustration. Colours, sizes and movement are simplified. This is not a scan or a simulation of your body. General information, not personal medical advice: a doctor reads your own results with your history.
Know your monocyte count.
Measured in your health assessment and explained by the doctor who reviews your results.