Counting low platelets

A WORLD leader has recently died of bleeding in the brain, a condition brought by, as it was reported, his low platelet count. It was reported he had undergone a platelet transfusion. The disease he has died from still remains shrouded in mystery. Can a low platelet count cause bleeding in the brain? 

Yes. To understand how a low platelet count can cause brain haemorrhage (bleeding), you have to understand what platelets do in the body. When the doctor draws a vial of blood from a vein and performs a blood count test, he usually looks at the main components of the blood; namely, the red blood cells, the white blood cells and the platelets.