Infection in Lymphoma

Abstract

Infections occur frequently in patients with lymphomas.^1-3Recurrent staphylococcal infections, gram-negative septicemia, and fungal and viral complications are all relatively more common in patients with hematological malignancies.^4-7 Altered immunological reactivity,^3,8,9chemotherapy,⁵and corticosteroid therapy^6,10-12have all been implicated as predisposing factors to infection in these patients. However, no report has correlated these factors and the development of infections with disease duration. Moreover, few studies have analyzed for comparison a group of patients without clinical infection. This report defines and compares the incidence of the types of infections occurring in patients with Hodgkin's disease, mycosis fungoides, lymphosarcoma, and reticulum cell sarcoma. The development of infections was related to the duration of the patients illness. <h3>Materials and Methods</h3> The autopsy and clinical records of all patients with Hodgkin's disease, lymphosarcoma, reticulum cell sarcoma, and mycosis fungoides dying at the National Institutes of Health during the years 1953