Introduction:

The presence of lung infection in a child with immunocompromised cancer is a serious situation that is associated with a high rate of morbidity and mortality.

Objective:

Describe the respiratory infection in a group of children with cancer.

Methods:

Descriptive cross-sectional and retrospective study in 21 children under 16 years old attended at the General Hospital of Medellin, Colombia during the period 2014-2016. All children were treated with chemotherapy and were hospitalized due to respiratory infection during the study period. The statistical analysis was carried out using the EPIDAT 4.2 programme.

Results:

In the sample, 57.2 % corresponded to the male sex, with an average age of 6.6 years (± 4.7) and 76.1 % with intermediate-risk leukemia. Respiratory infection developed as pneumonia in 42.8 % of children and as a parapneumonic effusion in the 4.7 %. In bacteriological isolation, Pseudomona aureginosa was found in 9.5 % of the children in the group of one to four years old; and Stafilococus aureus in 9.5% in the 5 to 12 years old group, with a mortality rate of 14.3 %.

Conclusions:

In preschoolers and adolescents with cancer regardless of risk´s classification, low respiratory infection occurs as pneumonia in the course of chemotherapy treatment during the episode of febrile neutropenia. A thorough and appropriate diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive approach to improving the survival of these immunosuppressed patients is important.

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