Abstract: OBJECTIVE To analyze the distribution and drug resistance of Escherichia coli causing infections in cancer patients so as to provide the basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment. METHODS Totally 160 cancer patients with E. coli infection admitted in the hospital from Jan. 2012 to Jan. 2015 were chosen as study objects. The distribution of E. coli was analyzed and drug susceptibility test was conducted to test drug resistance. RESULTS E. coli were mainly found from patients with cervical cancer (26.25%), followed by colon cancer (21.87%), lung cancer (20.62%).The infected sites were mainly including respiratory infections, urinary tract infections vaginal infection, wound infection and infection of ascites , accounting for 25.63%, 33.75%, 14.38%, 8.75% and 6.88%, respectively. A total of 99 strains of ESBLs-producing bacteria and 61 strains of non-ESBLs-producing bacteria were produced from 160 strains of E. coli. ESBLs-producing bacteria had significantly higher drug resistance than non-ESBLs-producing bacteria (P<0.05). CONCLUSION E. coli is one of major reason causing infections in cancer patients, and ESBLs-producing strains are various with high drug resistance. Antibiotics should be chosen carefully according to drug sensitivity test results.