I'm getting a bit concerned about my 58 year old father who, after a
series of *very* heavy nosebleeds earlier this year (he lost a LOT of
blood, had to have his nose cauterized on two occasions and was even
hospitalized for two days at one point) was sent for a series of blood
tests at the path lab which revealed he had a very low WBC (78) and
slightly high blood pressure.  He has to return to the path lab in a few
weeks for similar test and his GP is monitoring his blood pressure
fortnightly.  (Still high, needs meds to control it.)

Then last week, he got a sore throat and lost his voice. NOthing out of
the oridinary about that most people would think, but due to his low WBC
I got him swift medical assistance and he was prescribed anti-biotics
because the emergency doc thought his body might be unable to fight the
infection.  The course of pills ends tomorrow, and although he can talk
now, his voice still isn't right.

This is all out of the ordinary because in over 40 years of his working
life, he's never thrown a sicky.  He's never ill.  Doesn't seem to get
colds, sore throats, etc.  So all these incidents occurring so close
together are worrying the family and it doesn't help that colleagues and
'friends' of certain members of the family are mentioning all kinds of
worrying illnesses as the cause.

I'm just here to ask if this kind of low WBC is common in the general
population, if there are plenty of reasons for it that aren't a major
cause of concern .. and also, if having heavy nosebleeds can *cause* a
low WBC.

A low WBC as well as nosebleeds.  Gosh it was a bad idea to Google those
things.  @_@  Thanks for any help.