Infectious Diseases Treatment

Children with cancer, sickle cell disease, and other life-threatening disorders often lack strong immune systems. These children can get infectious diseases easily. They need world-class care that focuses on treating and preventing infections.

Why St. Jude for infectious disease treatment?

St. Jude has always worked to prevent and cure infectious diseases in children. At St. Jude, doctors have access to the latest diagnostic tools and therapies. They can deliver treatments designed specifically for each patient.

A few of the reasons to choose St. Jude for care include:

• At St. Jude, we have created an environment where children can be children and families can be together. 
• St. Jude patients and families never pay for services authorized by St. Jude.
• The nurse-to-patient ratio at St. Jude is about 1:3 in hematology and oncology and 1:1 in the Intensive Care Unit.
• Patients may be able to get expert, compassionate care and treatment closer to their homes through the St. Jude Affiliate Program.
  

Treatment information

We treat children, teens, and young adults with certain infectious diseases. They include:

Transplant infectious diseases

Patients who have bone marrow transplants have weak immune systems. Their immune systems need time to recover from the transplant before they are strong again. Sometimes, this recovery can be long.
Throughout the transplant process, patients are at an increased risk of infection. Our teams work to better understand, monitor, treat, and prevent infectious diseases that can arise during and after transplant.

Learn about infectious diseases treatment for bone marrow transplant patients. 

HIV

In 1987, St. Jude founder Danny Thomas declared AIDS a catastrophic disease of children. Soon after, the hospital made HIV/AIDS a research priority.

We follow infants, children, adolescents, and young adults living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in Shelby County and the surrounding areas. Our teams work together to provide holistic clinical care. We also offer a broad range of clinical trials for eligible patients.

St. Jude accepts most children and young adults up to 22 years old with HIV. Acceptance is based on whether the patient lives within our catchment area. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, sex, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, socioeconomic status, protected veteran status, sex, pregnancy, transgender status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, payment source, or marital status.

Infectious diseases clinical trials

Clinical research is a scientific study into how safe different medicines and treatments are. It also helps doctors and researchers know which medicines and treatments work best. Clinical research helps us increase our knowledge, develop new therapies, and improve health care.

Infectious disease researchers at St. Jude work to advance the treatment of infectious diseases in children. They do so through observational studies and clinical trials. Learn about infectious diseases research at St. Jude.

Learn more