What Are Leukocytes?
If your doctor tests your urine and finds too many leukocytes, it could be a sign of infection. Leukocytes are white blood cells created in the bone marrow and found in your blood and tissue. They are part of the immune system. When you have allergies, inflammation, infection, or disease, your body makes more leukocytes than usual to seek out and destroy the germs causing them. Having more of these in your urine than usual often indicates a problem in your urinary tract.
What is the normal range of leukocytes in the urine?
Healthy people should have little, if any, leukocytes in their urine. A normal reading ranges from 0-5 white blood cells per high-powered field (HPF), a measure used to describe how many can be seen within the field of a high-power microscope.
Leukocytes in Urine Causes
Leukocytes in your urine may stem from a routine immune response in your body or from a variety of conditions, which doctors will then treat to help restore your levels to normal. But sometimes high levels may be cause for greater concern.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs)
Your urinary tract includes your kidneys, bladder, and ureters (tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder). An infection in your urinary tract is the most likely cause of leukocytes in your urine. Any time you have an infection, your immune system ramps up the production of these cells to fight off the bacteria.
More than half of women and about 1 in 5 men will get a UTI at some point in their lives. Signs that you have one are:
- Pain or burning when you pee
- You need to go more often than usual
- Cloudy or foul-smelling urine
- Pain in your belly, back, or side
- Nausea and vomiting
Your doctor can treat a UTI with antibiotics. A few days to a week on these drugs should clear up the infection.
How long you stay on the medicine depends on how severe your infection is, how often you get UTIs, and any other medical problems you have. To ease pain while the infection clears, take an over-the-counter pain reliever or put a heating pad on your back or belly.
Make sure to take the whole antibiotic dose that your doctor prescribed. Otherwise, you could leave some bacteria alive, and they could reinfect you. That new infection could be harder to knock out with antibiotics. If your UTIs keep coming back, your doctor might put you on low-dose antibiotics for several months.
Call your doctor if you have symptoms such as:
- Pain or burning when you pee
- Blood in your urine
- Severe pain in your belly, side, or back
- Fever and chills
If you still have symptoms after antibiotics, consult your doctor again. You may need more treatment.
Kidney stones
Kidney stones are crystals that form when calcium and other minerals build up in your urine. They can be as small as a pea or as big as a golf ball. Larger kidney stones can block the flow of urine.
Kidney stones cause symptoms such as:
- Sharp pain in your belly, side, back, or groin
- Blood in your urine that looks red, pink, or brown
- An urgent need to pee
- Pain when you pee
- Cloudy or foul-smelling urine
Call your doctor right away if you think you have a kidney stone or if the pain is severe.
A small kidney stone might pass on its own. Drinking extra water can help flush it from your system. Over-the-counter pain relievers will help make you more comfortable until the stone is gone.
A urologist can remove bigger stones. One treatment involves using powerful waves from a machine outside your body to break the stone into smaller pieces, which can then pass in your urine.
Another stone removal method passes a scope into the kidney through your bladder or through a small opening in your back or side. The doctor will use special tools to break up the stone and remove it from your body.
Inflammation
Inflammation in your body triggers the release of leukocytes. That inflammation can come from an injury, infection, or disease.
Interstitial nephritis and cystitis are two conditions that cause inflammation in your urinary tract. Interstitial nephritis is a disease where inflammation reduces kidney function. Cystitis is inflammation of your bladder, often from a urinary tract infection, but the bladder can also be inflamed without infection (interstitial cystitis).
If you have either one of these problems, you may notice symptoms such as:
- Increased urge to pee
- Peeing more often than usual
- Blood in your urine
- Fever
- Nausea and vomiting
- Swelling on the feet
Keep in mind that if you have interstitial nephritis, there often aren't any symptoms until the disease is very advanced.
Call your doctor if you have these symptoms. If an infection is to blame, you'll get antibiotics. Other causes may need treatment with corticosteroids or other medicines.
Certain kinds of cancers
It's rare, but high leukocytes (leukocytosis) can be a sign of certain blood cancers such as leukemia or lymphoma. Symptoms include:
- Rash
- Fever and tiredness
- Pain
- Breathing difficulties and wheezing
- Night sweats
- Losing weight unexpectedly
Leukocytes in urine but no infection
The presence of leukocytes in urine with no signs of bacteria or infection is called sterile pyuria. It's a fairly common condition that results from sexually transmitted viruses, such as herpes simplex and human papillomavirus (HPV), and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as gonorrhea and chlamydia. Sterile pyuria is more common in women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB). Other causes include catheters inserted in the urinary tract, the presence of an underlying disease, or the use of certain medications such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), aspirin, penicillin-based antibiotics, and diuretics.
Leukocytes in Urine Risk Factors
Anyone can get leukocytes in their urine, but increased risk factors include:
- The presence of UTIs and STIs
- Being a woman or person AFAB
- Being over 45 years of age
- Undergoing menopause
You can lower your risk by:
- Practicing careful hygiene. Women and people AFAB should wipe from front to back after using the bathroom. They should change period products frequently if they menstruate and wash the vaginal area frequently.
- Drinking lots of fluids, which helps flush "bad" bacteria from your urinary tract.
- Wearing clothing that doesn't bind or restrict the genital area as well as underwear that helps absorb moisture.
- Urinating after sex, which also helps flush out bacteria.
- Wearing condoms to lower the risk of STIs.
- Watching for symptoms of STIs and getting tested right away.
How to Identify White Blood Cells in Urine
Your health care provider will likely order a urine test, called a WBC esterase test, to see if there are white blood cells present. To take the test, you pee into a sterile cup, which your doctor will send to a lab to check for blood, bacteria, or white blood cells in your urine.
How to Treat Leukocytes in Urine
Treating high urine leukocytes depends on the cause. If a bacterial infection is the cause, your doctor will likely prescribe antibiotics. If you have allergies and asthma, then antihistamines or inhalers might be prescribed.
Other treatments may include:
- Medicines that treat anxiety and inflammation
- IV fluids
- Cancer treatments, including radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and stem cell transplants
A procedure called leukapheresis can be performed to reduce your leukocyte counts quickly. Sometimes, no treatment is required at all for your white blood cells to return to normal levels.
How to get rid of leukocytes in urine naturally
Apart from medicine, the best way to get rid of leukocytes naturally is to prevent them in the first place. Home remedies include:
- Drinking plenty of fluids every day. This helps flush bacteria out of your urinary tract.
- Emptying your bladder completely when you use the bathroom. You can do this by waiting a moment after you're done peeing and trying again.
- Taking vitamin C (ascorbic acid). This is believed to prevent UTIs by making your pee more acidic, which can inhibit the growth of bacteria. There's evidence vitamin C might irritate the bladder, so you shouldn't use this remedy if you have a condition such as interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome.
- Drinking cranberry juice or taking cranberry supplements.
- Eating fruits such as cranberries, apples, and oranges, which contain a simple sugar called D-Mannose. It works to prevent bacteria from sticking to your urinary tract walls.
- Probiotics, particularly of the Lactobacillus variety. Some evidence suggests probiotics help maintain the balance of "good" bacteria, especially in the urinary tract.
Takeaways
Leukocytes are white blood cells that are part of your immune system. Leukocytes in your urine may mean a bacterial infection is present, but could also indicate that you have a viral or sexually transmitted infection or certain diseases such as cancer, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and sepsis. Long-term use of certain medications can also create leukocytes in urine. Typical symptoms are cloudy or pus-filled pee.
Leukocytes in Urine FAQs
What does it mean if you have leukocytes in your urine?
Leukocytes (white blood cells) in your urine may indicate an infection, such as a urinary tract infection (UTI), or the presence of another condition.
Why do leukocyte levels increase in urine during pregnancy?
Your risk for urinary tract infections is higher when you're pregnant, particularly in the first and second trimesters, which can lead to higher leukocyte levels. The risk for UTIs is higher because of the increased pressure and weight of your uterus on the urinary tract, which can restrict the flow of urine. Being pregnant also suppresses the immune system, making you more susceptible to infections. The pregnancy complication preeclampsia, which increases bodily stress and inflammation, can also lead to higher leukocyte levels.
Can ovarian cysts cause leukocytes in urine?
Yes. In a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome, ovaries develop cysts because not enough hormones are produced to start ovulation. This can cause inflammation, leading to higher leukocyte levels.
What does it mean when leukocytes are high?
High leukocyte (white blood cell) levels can mean you have an infection, inflammation, injury, or immune disorder. Sometimes, it can be a sign of a more serious condition such as cancer.
When should I worry about leukocytes?
Contact your doctor if you have:
- Fever, nausea, or are throwing up
- Excessive tiredness
- Excessive bleeding or bruising easily
- Unintentional weight loss and reduced appetite
- Regular night sweats
Go to the emergency room if you have symptoms of a stroke, chest pain, breathing difficulties, bleeding that won't stop, tingling in your limbs, or back pain that appears suddenly.
What level of WBC is alarming?
In adults, a white blood cell (leukocyte) count higher than 5 leukocytes per HPF (a measure of how many cells can be seen in a urine sample under a high-power microcsope), is a sign that there may be a problem
What does it mean if you have leukocytes in urine but no infection?
Leukocytes in urine with no sign of infection is a common condition called sterile pyuria. It can indicate the presence of several conditions.