Overview

This section covers assessing the need for and duration of antimicrobial prophylaxis in the following groups of immunocompromised adults:

• patients taking corticosteroid therapy
• patients taking immunomodulatory drugs for nonmalignant conditions
• patients with haematological malignancies
• patients treated with chemotherapy for solid organ malignancies
• solid organ transplant patients
• haematopoietic stem cell transplant patients.

At the time of writing, data to support the need for antimicrobial prophylaxis recommendations for patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (eg ipilimumab, nivolumab, pembrolizumab) and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (eg imatinib, dasatinib, nilotinib) is lacking. Perform a risk assessment for the individual patient and seek expert advice.