Study of smoking effects on total WBCs count and phagocytic activity of clinical laboratories workers blood in Al-Muthana Governorate

الملخص EN

Clinical Laboratory workers undergo a periodic checkup as biosafety management's procedures; due to that, they are in continuous exposure to pathogens during such work.

Smoking is a problem for healthy peoples, but as laboratory technicians, this subject was not under seeking before.

Total WBCs count is a test listed in the clinical form depended by Ministry of Health, while phagocytosis activity is not.

These two clinical parameters were estimated in this research in healthy volunteers Blood; working in Al-Muthana Governorate clinical laboratories, NBT test was used for Neutrophils activity evaluation.

Results showed elevation in WBCs Total Counts and decrease in phagocytic activity; smoking caused more elevation in total count and lower percentages of active phagocytic Neutrophils comparing with the non-smokers obtained values.

Conclusion: Periodic checkup in Iraq should be updated and smoking status must be included.