Top tips for avoiding infection during and after cancer treatment

In this blog our Cancer Information Development Nurse Teresa discusses ways to avoid infection.

Some cancer treatments can affect your immunity and make you more prone to infections. It’s natural that this might cause concern. But there’s a lot you can do to reduce the chance of getting an infection during and after cancer treatment.

The treatment most likely to reduce your immune system is chemotherapy. There are times during chemotherapy when you’ll be more vulnerable to infection. Your cancer doctor or specialist nurse can tell you when that’s likely to be and what you need to do if you develop signs of infection.

Once your treatment has finished, your immune system will start to recover and you’ll become less prone to infection. The time it takes for your immune system to fully recover varies depending on the type of treatment you’ve had.  

Ways you can avoid getting an infection during and after your treatment

Eating and drinking

Eating well will help the tissues of the body recover and heal. You should balance a healthy diet with foods you enjoy. Here are our top tips for eating and drinking during recovery:

• Drink plenty of fluids. This will help to keep your mouth clean and prevent the build up of bacteria in your kidneys and bladder.
• Getting nutrition and energy from your diet is important. Try to eat as healthily as you can. Make sure to wash fruit and vegetables thoroughly and peel before use.
•  Supplement drinks can help if you’re finding it difficult to eat enough. You can ask your GP to prescribe you some. 
• Avoid certain foods that may contain harmful bacteria, such as shell fish, chicken, eggs and take-away foods. Check that your food is properly cooked. It’s advisable not to reheat food after it has cooled.
• If you drink alcohol, try to keep a check on how much alcohol you drink. Try to limit alcohol intake to two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women.

General hygiene

• Try to shower or have a bath every day. Take extra care to keep your mouth clean.
• Wash your hands regularly. And always wash your hands before preparing food and after handling raw meat and fish.
• Avoid people who you know have an infection or places where there is a risk of picking up an infection such as crowds, public transport and busy shopping centres.
• If you have pets it’s fine to handle and stroke them but remember to wash your hands afterwards. However, it’s best to avoid handling any animal waste, such as litter trays.

Exercise and rest

• Try and get a good balance between plenty of rest and being active. It’s a good idea to talk to your cancer doctor before you start any exercise, they can advise you on the type and amount of exercise that is safe for you to do. We recently published a blog on Aurelie’s personal experience of keeping active after surgery. You can find it here.
• Pace yourself so you spend energy on what you enjoy and what’s important.

Work

• If you continue working throughout your treatment, you may find it helpful to talk to your employer or HR department. You may be able to work part time or from home at the times when you’ve reduced immunity. Our website has information on work and cancer.

Stress and relaxation

• Stress can sometimes affect our sense of well being and also our immune system. It’s difficult to avoid stress in your life but there are ways you can manage any stress you might have.
• Some people find complementary therapies, such as massage, relaxation and visualisation can help to cope with stress and anxiety. You can read about different types of complementary therapies that some people find helpful here.

Smoking

• If you smoke, this can affect your immune system. It’s a good idea for all aspects of your health to cut down or stop completely. This will reduce your heart disease, strokes and developing new cancers. You can download our booklet Giving up smoking to help you quit.

Flu jab

• It’s safe for you to have the flu jab. However, it’s generally recommended that the vaccine is given 2 weeks before you start treatment, or between chemotherapy cycles when your immunity has recovered more.

The below slideshow explains how to be aware of the infection risks of pets, crowds and certain foods.

When your treatment has finished, your immune system will start to recover and your body will be able to fight off infection more easily. 

To see what else Macmillan's cancer information team has been blogging about, please visit our blog home page! You can subscribe to receive our blogs by email or RSS too.

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