Systemic and local infection, sometimes serious and sometimes even fatal, has long been recognized as a potential complication of immunosuppressive therapy, both in humans and in our companion animal patients. It is both natural and appropriate for clinicians to be afraid of serious infectious complications whenever they consider commencing immunosuppressive agents in their patients. This fear of infection, however, should not stop veterinarians from using immunosuppressive agents in those of their patients that truly need immunosuppression. Immunosuppressive agents can often be life-saving and should not be withheld in those animals that need them. In fact, entire new fields of medicine, such as transplant medicine, would never have been successful without the development of potent immunosuppressive agents.
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