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Up-to-Date Infection Control Practices for Febrile Neutropenic Patients

  • New Technologies and Advances in Infection Prevention (A Marra, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of review

Neutropenia and its related infections are still a significant challenge in the treatment of patients with onco-hematological diseases, impacting increased mortality and morbidity. In this review, we compiled up-to-date scientific evidence on infection control in neutropenic patients and discussed the potential role of new technologies

Recent findings

Traditional measures such as hand hygiene (HH), patient’s skincare, central venous catheter care, environment protection, and contact isolation are the cornerstone of infection prevention in neutropenic patients while antibiotic prophylaxis is still a debated issue. Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) are increasing as reported in this population, and new techniques such as decolonization and the use of predictive models for infection by MDRO could play a pivotal role.

Summary

Well-established measures should always be enhanced and stimulated. New technological tools based on artificial intelligence algorithms could lead to personalized infection control practices and better outcomes. More studies are needed to evaluate these new tools in the real-world setting.

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Abbreviations

HH:

Hand hygiene

HCT:

Hematopoietic cell transplantation

CVC:

Central venous catheter

CRBSI:

Catheter-related bloodstream infection

CNS:

Coagulase-negative Staphylococci

CDC:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

HEPA:

High-efficiency particulate air

MDRO:

Multidrug-resistant organisms

FN:

febrile neutropenia

ESBL:

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase

CRE:

Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteria

FMT:

Fecal microbiota transplantation

EHR:

Electronic health records

MDR-GNB:

Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Anthony Armenta for providing English language assistance of the publication at hand.

Funding

This study has been co-funded by a research grant from the Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, Instituto de Salud Carlos III [FIS PI18/01061] and a European Regional Development Fund (EDRD). CG-V has received the INTENSIFICACIÓ Grant—a grant supported by the Catalan Health Agency (PERIS [Pla estratègic de recerca i innovació en salut—“Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation in HealthCare”]). Our group is recognized by the AGAUR (Project 2017SGR1432) of the Catalan Health Agency. Dr. Pedro Puerta-Alcalde has received a pre-doctoral grant supported by the Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, Instituto de Salud Carlos III [RH041828].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital Erasto Gaertner, Curitiba, Brazil

    Hugo Manuel Paz Morales MD

  2. Instituto Laura Fressatto, Curitiba, Brazil

    Hugo Manuel Paz Morales MD

  3. Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Carrer de Villarroel 170, 08036, Barcelona, Spain

    Pedro Puerta-Alcalde MD, PhD, Estela Moreno-Garcia MD, Mariana Chumbita MD, Nicole Garcia-Pouton MD, Alex Soriano MD, PhD & Carolina Garcia-Vidal MD, PhD

  4. Smart Support System for Medicine, Barcelona, Spain

    Gemma Sanjuan-Gomez PhD, Alex Soriano MD, PhD & Carolina Garcia-Vidal MD, PhD

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Correspondence to Carolina Garcia-Vidal MD, PhD.

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Conflict of Interest

CG-V has received honoraria for talks on behalf of Gilead Science, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Pfizer, Janssen, Novartis, and Lilly as well as grant support from Gilead Science and Merck Sharp and Dohme. PP-A has received honoraria for talks on behalf of Pfizer. AS has received honoraria for talks on behalf of Merck Sharp and Dohme, Pfizer, Novartis, and Angellini as well as grant support from Pfizer.

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Morales, H.M.P., Puerta-Alcalde, P., Sanjuan-Gomez, G. et al. Up-to-Date Infection Control Practices for Febrile Neutropenic Patients. Curr Treat Options Infect Dis 12, 77–86 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40506-020-00214-9

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