For individuals with cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy, bone marrow suppression places these individuals at risk for life-threatening infections. What is the most common cause of these infections?

Overgrowth of the client's own normal flora.

Explanation:

The most common cause of life-threatening infections in individuals with bone marrow suppression is overgrowth of their own normal flora. Hand hygiene, careful preparation of food, and avoiding exposure to individuals harboring an infection help to decrease the risks secondary to external organisms. These actions however, do not affect the risk of normal flora overgrowth.

Bacterial overgrowth syndrome (BOS) is a term that describes clinical manifestations that occur when the normally low number of bacteria that inhabit the stomach, duodenum, jejunum, and proximal ileum significantly increases or becomes overtaken by other pathogens.