Perioperative infection: Are we sure what to focus on?

[摘要] The relationship between immunosuppressants and infection is complex. True, these medications can increase the risk of opportunistic and perhaps routine infections. Some of the newer drugs increase the risk of reactivation of tuberculosis (and others are assumed to do so), some appear to increase the risk of activation of JC virus (an almost ubiquitous asymptomatic infection), and some predispose to Pneumocystis pneumonia or herpes zoster. But different agents do not equally increase the risk. Steroid therapy is the least precise weapon in our immunosuppressive arsenal and likely provokes the widest array of infections. We all are aware of this, but we continue to be gravely concerned about the risk of the newer biologics.

[学科分类] 卫生学