Figure 3.

Patients with hematologic and oncologic diseases are more likely to develop Clostridioides difficile infection due to the frequent use of antibiotics, opioid analgesia and proton pump inhibitors, chemoradiation, and immunosuppressive agents. As a result, a change in the intestinal microbial composition and integrity of the epithelium results in the reduced production of short chain fatty acids, intestinal dysbiosis, thinning of the mucin layers, immune dysregulation, interruption to tight-junction formation, increased translocation of luminal microbes into the systemic circulation, and the development of Clostridioides difficile infections.