Leukemoid Blood Reactions

THE apparent coincidence of leukemia and various infections, principally tuberculosis, was noted by various observers, mostly in the German literature, as early as 1900.1 However, the first careful consideration of leukemia-like blood pictures as nonmalignant entities was in 1926 by Krumbhaar,2 who coined the term "leukemoid" to describe them. Since bone-marrow biopsy as a diagnostic aid was not in general use at that time, coincidental leukemia cannot positively be ruled out in some of his cases. Indeed, it was found that many of the cases reported, including some widely cited by other authors, may have been truly leukemic, since some . . .