{"id":1476,"date":"2020-11-18T12:10:05","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T11:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/youtumor.org\/id-like-to-know-more\/other-problems-for-patients-on-therapy\/is-it-infectious-or-dangerous-for-those-around-us\/"},"modified":"2021-01-13T18:47:51","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T17:47:51","slug":"is-cancer-infectious-or-dangerous-for-those-around-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/youtumor.org\/en\/id-like-to-know-more\/other-problems-for-patients-on-therapy\/is-cancer-infectious-or-dangerous-for-those-around-us\/","title":{"rendered":"IS IT INFECTIOUS OR DANGEROUS FOR THOSE AROUND US?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Absolutely not, never. If anything, the opposite is true. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The immune system of patients on chemotherapy may be temporarily weakened. This means that, if these patients come into contact with people who have got flu, a cold or bronchitis (as often happens, especially if there are children in the house), they are at risk of picking up these infections, which could cause serious complications. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the opposite never happens. A patient who is on chemotherapy, or who has had chemotherapy, poses absolutely no threat to the people around him. He does not release toxic substances from the skin, in his sweat or in his breath. Moreover, the fact that the patient has cancer poses absolutely no risk to the relatives or friends who come into contact with him, no matter how close this contact may be. Cancer is not infectious. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same complete reassurance also applies to external radiotherapy and radiological examinations. A patient who has had external radiotherapy or radiological examinations is perfectly free to hold a baby in her arms, kiss children or have intimate relations with loved ones without the slightest limitation. <\/p>\n\n\n

As always, however, there are exceptions.<\/strong> <\/span>This is the case of some nuclear medicine examinations and a few therapies that use radio-isotopes. For example, patients who undergo scintigraphy examinations and, especially, those who have therapy with radio-iodine for a thyroid tumor will continue to emit radiation for a few hours or a few days; the intensity of this radiation depends on the radio-iodine dose administered (very low in the case of thyroid scintigraphy, but much higher in the case of therapy). They will therefore have to remain in isolation for a time. In such cases, however, the patient is always clearly warned, and may even be temporarily isolated in a hospital facility.<\/p>\n

A word about PET, an examination that is increasingly being performed in oncology. As PET is a form of scintigraphy, the patient will, theoretically, emit radiation for a certain period of time. However: <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n