A 5-year-old girl has a high fever and cough. The girl's mother informs you that her daughter has leukemia and finished her most
recent round of chemotherapy two days ago. She states that the girl is neutropenic. You recognize that:___________. A) neutropenia is a common side effect of chemotherapy, but is not a serious concern.
B) neutropenic fevers are always due to pneumonia.C) neutropenia is a serious condition that often leads to sepsis.D) neutropenic cough is a side effect of chemotherapy and should be treated with albuterol.
C) neutropenia is a serious condition that often leads to sepsis
Explanation:
Neutropenia is a condition in which neutrophil's numbers in the blood get reduced. Neutrophils are one of the most abundant WBC which is present in our blood. So neutrophils play an important role in fighting the infection.
The main cause of neutropenia is chemotherapy so as here the 5-year girl went to chemotherapy which results in neutropenia so due to fewer neutrophils she got the infection from opportunistic pathogen due to which she has high fever and cough. Infection or sepsis is common in neutropenia.
