ABSTRACT
Infections in the immunocompromised are mostly due to opportunistic pathogens and many of these are either endogenous and hail from humans or are environmental and hail from the outdoors. The majority of these pathogens are potentially airborne and are either inhaled or else they settle from the air. This chapter addresses immunocompromised infections, burn wound infections, and infections in cancer patients. Burn wounds are included here because they have a certain similarity to immunocompromised infections-burn wounds are inherently susceptible to opportunistic infections. Infections in cancer patients also bear some similarity because of the reduced immunity of patients undergoing cancer treatment.
