CDC Safe Healthcare Blog: Important Information to Help Cancer Patients Prevent Infections this Cold & Flu Season

CDC Safe Healthcare Blog: Important Information to Help Cancer Patients Prevent Infections this Cold & Flu Season

CDC Safe Healthcare Blog: Important Information to Help Cancer Patients Prevent Infections this Cold & Flu Season

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent this bulletin at 02/12/2014 01:32 PM EST

More than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related complications each year,¹ with January and February marking  peak flu season in the United States.

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy are at higher risk of health complications at this time of year due to their weakened immune system.² In 2009 alone, approximately 330,000 patients with cancer in the U.S. were admitted to the hospital for serious infectious complications.³

Today, on CDC’s Safe Healthcare blog, Alice Guh, MD, MPH, an infectious disease doctor and medical officer at the CDC, answersquestions  on how cancer patients can help better protect themselves during flu season. 
The CDC also provides the following resources for health care providers, cancer patients and caregivers atPreventCancerInfections.org – a website for patients and caregivers featuring an interactive risk assessment tool for neutropenia and downloadable educational materials.

• Basic Infection Control and Prevention Plan for Outpatient Oncology Settings – guidelines for evidence-based infection prevention practices in outpatient oncology settings, where more than one million cancer patients receive chemotherapy and radiation therapy each year.
• Supporting educational resources available to download include health tip sheets on a variety of topics, posters, and fact sheets.

Join the conversation on CDC’s Safe Healthcare blog: http://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare.

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seasonal Influenza.http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/disease.htm Accessed 9/13/13.
² “Chemotherapy and You” brochure. National Cancer Institute website. www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/coping/chemotherapy-and-you/page7#SE8. Accessed January 21, 2014. 
³ Anhang Price R et al. Cancer Hospitalizations for Adults. HCUP. 2009: Table 5.