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Why can immunosuppressive drugs make people vulnerable to infections?

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Health monitoring — human disease The routine monitoring of blood pressure levels is an important part of assessing an individual's health. Blood pressure provides information about the amount of blood in circulation and about heart function and thus is an important indicator of disease.

Immunosuppressive drugs make individuals vulnerable to infections because they intentionally reduce the immune system’s ability to defend the body against pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa.12

These medications are primarily used to prevent organ transplant rejection or to treat autoimmune diseases and cancers. They function by inhibiting the activity or proliferation of key immune cells, particularly T lymphocytes, which are essential for identifying and eliminating foreign invaders. By interfering with these protective mechanisms, the drugs inadvertently suppress the body's natural capacity to mount an effective immune response.1345

While this suppression is necessary to achieve therapeutic goals—such as preventing the body from attacking a transplanted organ—it leaves the patient highly susceptible to microbial infections. Consequently, clinicians must carefully balance the benefits of these treatments against the increased risk of infection, often utilizing them for the shortest duration possible.41