In addition, affected individuals may heal slowly from injuries or have frequent infections due to the loss of normal white blood cells that fight infection. (sbnation.com)
In leukemia, signals that normally tell a blood stem cell to mature malfunction, leaving it to endlessly multiply and «self - renew» instead of producing normal white blood cells needed to fight infection. (sciencedaily.com)
«Leukemia, in general, is a blood cancer, a disease where the bone marrow is filled with unhealthy cells which typically keep a body from making normal white blood cells,» says Ryan Mattison, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. (health.com)