ABSTRACT
For over half a century, steroids (corticosteroids and glucocorticoids) have been used to suppress inflammatory, autoimmune, and other immunologic processes (1-3). Their benefits are unquestioned; however, their costs are high. When needed, their multifactorial enhancing and suppressing molecular and cellular effects on metabolic systems lead to hypertension, electrolyte abnormalities, and mineral disorders, especially osteoporosis (1-3). Their impacts on inflammatory systems impair tissue integrity and repair and result in a variety of infectious complications (4), the focus of this chapter.
