Dear nurses, is toxicity from chemotherapy present in bodily fluids excreted by a patient on chemotherapy? If there is, what are the actions that chemo patient and family members should take to avoid being exposed to them, please? I came across advice of flushing toilet twice, washing clothes separately, but only on American websites. I would be grateful if you could advise, or share a link to appropriate resources. No advice was given by hospital staff. Thank you.
Hi CarerNat,
Thanks for getting in touch. When someone is going through treatment with chemotherapy it’s only natural to want to understand what precautions may be needed.
On the whole people having treatment are encouraged to try and go about day to day life as much as they are able to , depending on the side effects they have. With this in mind, in most situations, the risks to others are low. If anything, it’s the person having treatment that’s more at risk because of their reduced ability to fight infection.
Precautions should, however, be used in relation to body fluids. This is because there a is risk of a small amount of chemotherapy being present for a while after treatment, depending on the drugs given
This advice comes from Milton Keynes University hospital
How should body fluids be disposed of?
Urine, stools and vomit can contain chemotherapy drugs or their breakdown products for as long as seven days after a patient has received treatment. Therefore, it is important that you wear gloves when handling urine, stools, vomit, contaminated bed linen or incontinence pads for seven days following chemotherapy. You should either use the gloves provided to you by the hospital chemotherapy nurses or a pair of household gloves kept especially for this purpose. Gloves should be changed immediately if torn or soiled. The contents of vomit bowls/bedpans/urinals should be flushed down the toilet. Any disposable containers should then be washed thoroughly in warm soapy water and disposed of in the household waste. Non disposable containers should be washed thoroughly in warm soapy water and left to dry. Incontinence pads and gloves should be placed in a bag prior to disposal. Contaminated linen and clothes should be washed separately to other items on the hottest temperature guidance for the item.
There shouldn’t be a need to launder clothing or bedding separately unless body fluids have been spilled on them. And many hospitals will recommend that when using the toilet, that the person sits down and flushes twice afterwards with the lid closed. This is to avoid any potential splashing.
Normal cleaning products can be used for housework in general and there’s no need to wash crockery or cutlery separately.
Very often advice like this is shared either at pre-chemotherapy chats or at the start of treatment. It may be worth asking the chemotherapy team for their advice and also if they can give some written information too.
I hope this helps and treatment goes well
Take care
Linda, Cancer Information Nurse Specialist
You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email.
Ref:LM/DC
