Children with childhood leukemia benefit from prophylactic antibiotics

(Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) Prophylactic antibiotics significantly reduce the risk of serious bacterial infections in children during the critical first month of treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common childhood cancer, according to a US and Canadian study led by investigators from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. While the overall cure rate for ALL is high, about one to two percent of children with this diagnosis die during the first ...