Are all cancer patients at risk? Or just those currently getting treatment?
Pergam, the medical director of infection prevention at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, said patients with blood malignancies such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, acute lympho-blastic leukemia and multiple myeloma are most
at risk.
Also at risk: those in active treatment for any type of cancer and those who’ve undergone bone marrow transplants. (Active treatment is usually defined as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and other treatments such as immunotherapies.)
Dr. Gary Lyman, an oncologist and health policy expert at the Hutch, added that even those out of treatment may want to be extra cautious.
“The risk extends beyond the period of active treatment,” he said. “The after-effects of treatment don’t end when people finish their last course
of therapy or leave the hospital after surgery.
The after-effects of cancer and the immuno-suppressive effects of treatment can be
long-term.”
Can patients and survivors get tested to see if they’re immunosuppressed?
Pergam said there’s no easy blood test to check someone’s level of immune suppression, but being in active chemotherapy, having low white-cell or low lymphocyte counts and/or taking immune-suppressive agents (such as prednisone) are all associated with immune suppression and increased risk of infection.
“We don’t know all the details on this yet but if you’ve been told you’re immunosuppressed by your provider, then you should be extra cautious,” he said.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Steve Pergam, left, answers questions about COVID-19 during a recent Fred Hutch town hall meeting with the Hutch's new president and director Dr. Thomas Lynch.Photo by Robert Hood / Fred Hutch News Service
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