Guarding Against Infections 

Margaret Poscher, MD, Lawrence Mintz, MD, W. Lawrence Drew, MD, PhD, Ernest H. Rosenbaum, MD, and Malin Dollinger, MD 

Everyone with cancer runs a high risk of catching 
some sort of infection. This is so because the cancer 
and the methods used to fight it affect the immune
system defenses that normally keep infections 
at bay.
    Our first line of defense against infection is the
outer and inner linings of the body—the skin and
the mucous membranes. Both these barriers are
punctured by the invasive procedures necessary
to diagnose or treat cancer problems. Chemo-
therapy and radiation are particularly damaging to
mucous membranes. And the needle in the arm to
draw blood for testing, the IV lines, the catheters