Fever in Immunocompromised Patients

To the Editor: Pizzo, in his review entitled “Fever in Immunocompromised Patients” (Sept. 16 issue), 1 states that immediate postoperative care for recipients of bone marrow transplants should be similar to the treatment of high-risk patients with cancer and that either single-agent or multiple-agent parenteral antibiotic therapy can be chosen. Single-agent antimicrobial therapy has not been well studied in recipients of bone marrow transplants, especially patients undergoing allogeneic transplantation. For instance, in the application submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for cefepime to be used as monotherapy for fever and neutropenia, more than 1200 patients with fever and neutropenia were . . .