[The treatment of febrile immunosuppressed patient]

Infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. The recognition and treatment of infections in this patient population are particularly difficult task for several reasons: the clinical manifestation of infection may be indistinguishable from those of the underlying disease; the effect of immunosuppressive therapy may diminish the usual disease manifestation; the spectrum of potential pathogens is large, making empirical treatment difficult. Fever with or without a clinically obvious source is a frequent presenting feature of serious infections in immunosuppressive patients. Pneumonia is one of the most frequent life-threatening infections in patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy.