Addressing antimicrobial resistance for better care in cancer patients

Infections in cancer patients are a very common complication making the routine use of antibiotics lifesaving in the treatment of these patients. As many as 1 in 5 cancer patients undergoing treatment will need antibiotics during their treatment¹. Infections in cancer patients may be related to an immunosuppressed state due to alteration of the underlying immune system caused by the primary cancer, as is the case in some hematologic malignancies. However, more commonly cancer patients are at a high risk of infections due to the lowering of immune defences by different methods of treatment, in particular cytotoxic chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT).