The spongy tissue inside your bones, the bone marrow, is responsible for making platelets. And when it can’t produce sufficient platelets or destroys them faster before they can be replaced, thrombocytopenia begins to develop.

There are a few reasons for this:

• There could be a blood disorder that may be affecting the bone marrow (aplastic anemia).
• The individual could have other conditions like leukemia or lymphoma.
• The presence of diseases like Wiskott-Aldrich or May-Hegglin syndromes that lower the platelet count.
• The individual may be suffering from chickenpox, mumps, rubella, HIV, or Epstein-Barr.
• The person has a history of consuming alcohol.
• The individual has undergone chemotherapy or radiation. Exposure to pesticides may also interfere with the platelet production process.

Sometimes, the body destroys too many platelets. This abnormal behaviour could be the result of:

• Autoimmune diseases are conditions in which the body attacks healthy cells. These usually include lupus, immune thrombocytopenia, or idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).
• Bacterial contamination of the blood (bacteremia).
• Antibiotics that inhibit the blood clotting process, particularly those containing sulfa, heparin and anti-seizure drugs such as phenytoin (Dilantin) and vancomycin (Vancocin).
• Rare blood clotting disorders like thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)
• Hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that affects the blood vessels and causes causes kidney problems
• Presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), hepatitis C, and HIV