[Marlene]

Ferritin is very sensitive. It's a considered an "acute-phase reactant" which means that it any inflammation, infection, injury and even how the blood specimen was drawn/handled can cause it to jump up dramatically especially when you have iron overload. So I wouldn't worry about the spike. It does not mean that his iron load has increased by that much. You really cannot draw any conclusions from just one blood test.

When John was on Exjade, we would stop it if he got ill or injured. Bacteria thrives in an iron rich environment and since the Exjade makes the iron more available in order for it to excreted, the bacteria has more access to it. So you might want to consider, if you haven't already, taking a break from it until the liver enzymes calm back down and the infection is cleared.

Medicines can really overburden the kidneys and liver so you do have to keep a close watch on them.