Paediatricscommon
A 4-year-old girl has had bruises on her shins and trunk for three weeks. Her mother says she has become pale, tires on the walk to kindergarten and asks to be carried, and wakes at night saying her legs hurt. She had a cold a month ago and is afebrile today. There are firm, non-tender nodes in both sides of the neck and the spleen is palpable 3 cm below the costal margin. Haemoglobin is 74 g/L (110 to 140), white cell count 3.1 x10^9/L (5 to 15), neutrophils 0.5 x10^9/L (1.5 to 8) and platelets 28 x10^9/L (150 to 400). Which one of the following best accounts for both her blood count and her examination findings?