NOSOCOMIAL INFECTIONS AMONG LEUKAEMIAS AND LYMPHOMA PATIENTS UNDERGOING­ CHEMOTHERAPY AND IRRADIATI01

Abstract

- Hospital acquired infections (nosocomial) are those infections that are neither present nor incubating at the time of admission.(I) - In the majority of cases nosocomial infection does not develop regardless of exposures to high risk areas or procedures with in the hospital.(S) Three components are necessary for the development of nosocomial infections, a source of infectious organism (exogenous or endogenous), a mean of transmission and a susceptible host.(II) - A patient's predisposition to infection results whenever there 1s a disturbance in the physiologic and immunologic state of the host.(33) - The haematological malignancy patient is the prototype of immunocompromised susceptible to infection due to a complex interplay between his disease and its therapy with a resultant neutropaenia, lymphopaenia, impaired antibody production and cellular

- 68 immunity.CJ 5 51" )

- So this work aimed at the determination of overall rates of nosocomial infections, and to evaluate antimicrobial usage among leukaemia and lymphoma patients undergoing, surgery, chemotherapy and irradiation. - The present work included 75 patients with haematological malignancy who were admitted 102 times to the Haematology Unit in Internal Medicine Department and Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Department, Alexandria Hospital, over a period of one year from September 1997 to September 1998.