Mucocutaneous herpetic infections during cancer chemotherapy.

Adults who are given immunosuppressive and myelosuppressive cancer chemotherapy have a heightened risk for development of herpetic infections during treatment. The impact is much greater in patients who are given antineoplastic drugs for leukemia and lymphoma than in those who are given such drugs for carcinoma and sarcoma. In the series reported here, the incidence of herpes simplex infections exceeded that of herpes zoster infections in patients treated for leukemia by a ratio of more than 12:1, compared to slightly more than 2:1 in patients treated for solid tumor. The frequency of herpes simplex and herpes zoster infections during treatment for leukemia was 25%. Corresponding frequencies for patients with lymphoma, carcinoma, and sarcoma were 28%, 8%, and 3%, respectively.