Antibiotic and antifungal use in pediatric leukemia and lymphoma patients are associated with increasing opportunistic pathogens and decreasing bacteria responsible for activities that enhance colonic defense.

ABSTRACT: Due to decreased immunity, both antibiotics and antifungals are regularly used in pediatric hematologic-cancer patients as a means to prevent severe infections and febrile neutropenia. The general effect of antibiotics on the human gut microbiome is profound, yielding decreased diversity and changes in community structure. However, the specific effect on pediatric oncology patients is not well-studied. The effect of antifungal use is even less understood, having been studied only in mouse models. Because the composition of the gut microbiome is associated with regulation of hematopoiesis, immune function and gastrointestinal integrity, changes within the patient gut can have implications for the clinical management of hematologic malignancies. The pediatric population is particularly chall

SUBMITTER: Dunn KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9363618 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature