Brit J Hosp Med
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Almost all cancer therapies lead to a wide array of side effects, owing to the disruption of normal physiological processes and alteration of immunological responses. Of these, mucositis is one of the most commonly encountered side effects, presenting in about 20-40% of all patients receiving chemotherapy and 80% of those being treated with radiotherapy for head and neck malignancies. ⋯ The key to management is a multidisciplinary approach, revolving around pain control, oral hygiene, nutritional support and management of superimposed infection. The scarcity of therapeutic options for prevention or treatment of mucositis has resulted in clinical difficulty in controlling it, which, in turn, seriously affects the patient's quality of life and cancer management, contributing to patient morbidity and mortality.
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In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a dramatic shift in the patterns of traditionally seasonal childhood respiratory viruses which may be the result of changes in population immunity.