The American Society of Transplantation Online Transplant Infectious Diseases Library

These updated guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Community of Practice of the American Society of Transplantation review the diagnosis, prevention and management of blastomycosis, histoplasmosis, and coccidioidomycosis in the pre- and post-transplant period. Though each of these endemic fungal infections has unique epidemiology and clinical manifestations, they all share a predilection for primary pulmonary infection and may cause disseminated infection, particularly in...

Liver transplantation has become an important treatment modality for patients with end-stage liver disease/cirrhosis, acute liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although surgical techniques and immunosuppressive regimens for liver transplantation have improved significantly over the past 20 years, infectious complications continue to contribute to the morbidity and mortality in this patient population. The use of standardized screening protocols for both donors and recipients,...

The optimal treatment for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) requiring renal replacement therapy/dialysis is kidney transplantation. Additionally, pancreas transplantation alone or simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation offers improved quality of life as well as reversion or prevention of complications seen in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Patients with CKD on dialysis are at increased risk for bacterial and blood-borne viral pathogens. During the initial first month...

These updated guidelines from the American Society of Transplantation Infectious Diseases Community of Practice address the prevention and management of Clostridium difficile infection in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. Clostridioides (formerly Clostridium) difficile infection (CDI) is among the most common hospital acquired infections. In SOT recipients, the incidence of CDI varies by type and number or organs transplanted. While a meta-analysis of published literature found the...

These updated guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Community of Practice of the American Society of Transplantation address vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) infections in SOT candidates and recipients. VRE are an important cause of infection and have been named by the CDC as a serious public threat. Typically, a commensal of the gastrointestinal tract, VRE may become pathogenic after abdominal organ manipulation like transplantation. This guideline reviews the microbiology,...

Febrile neutropenic patients are at increased risk of developing infections. During the initial stages of neutropenia, most of these infections are bacterial. The spectrum of bacterial infections depends to some extent on whether or not patients receive antimicrobial prophylaxis when neutropenic. Since most transplant recipients do, Gram-positive organisms predominate, due to the fact prophylaxis is directed primarily against Gram-negative organisms. Staphylococcus species (often...

These updated guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Community of Practice of the American Society of Transplantation review the diagnosis, prevention, and management of HHV-6A, HHV-6B, HHV-7, and HHV-8 in the pre- and post-transplant period. The majority of HHV-6 (A and B) and HHV-7 infections in transplant recipients are asymptomatic; symptomatic disease is reported infrequently across organs. Routine screening for HHV-6 and 7 DNAemia is not recommended in asymptomatic patients, nor is...

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) has become a widely used modality of therapy for a variety of malignant and nonmalignant diseases. Despite advances in pharmacotherapy and transplantation techniques, infection remains one of the most severe and frequently encountered complications of allo-HSCT.

These updated guidelines from the American Society of Transplantation Infectious Diseases Community of Practice review the epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention, and management of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in solid organ transplantation. Despite an increasing armamentarium of antimicrobials active against MRSA, improved diagnostic tools, and overall declining rates of infection, MRSA infections remain a substantial cause of morbidity and mortality in solid...

These updated guidelines from the American Society of Transplantation Infectious Diseases Community of Practice review the diagnosis, prevention, and management of varicella zoster virus (VZV) in the pre- and post-transplant period. Primary varicella is an uncommon complication post-solid-organ transplant (SOT), except among pediatric transplant patients and those seronegative for VZV. As the majority of SOT recipients are seropositive for VZV, herpes zoster (HZ) occurs frequently following...

Mycobacterial disease is commonly encountered during transplant evaluations and can be a major source of morbidity and mortality among transplant recipients. The impact of TB and NTM around the world has gained increased awareness, and the global impact of disease varies from country to country thus making mycobacterial epidemiology an important aspect of disease management. Risk factors for both tuberculosis (TB) and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) must be assessed by transplant...

The spectrum of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections has become an increasingly recognized cause of clinical concern in transplant recipients. While episodic isolation of NTM is often common among certain solid organ transplants such as lung recipients, there is sufficient evidence to support that serious infections can result in all transplant groups. As NTM are ubiquitous in the environment, and exposure to such bacteria is universally unavoidable, clinicians providing care for...

Live-attenuated vaccines are currently contraindicated in solid-organ transplant recipients. However, the risk of vaccine-preventable infections is lifelong, and can be particularly severe after transplantation. In this prospective interventional national cohort study, 44 pediatric liver transplant recipients with measles IgG antibodies <150 IU/L (below seroprotection threshold) received measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) at a median of 6.3 years posttransplantation (interquartile range,...

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) refers to the process of intravenous infusion of self-renewing hematopoietic stem cells to restore normal hematopoiesis and is a rapidly developing and highly effective modality of treatment for a wide range of immunologic, metabolic, hematologic, as well as malignant diseases. Patients undergoing HSCT are at high risk of infectious complications in the peri-transplant period while awaiting immune reconstitution. There has been significant...

This chapter will review the basic biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and then focus on the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and diagnosis in transplant patients. Prevention and treatment will be considered elsewhere. Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of human mortality in resource-limited settings, in part because it is still a diagnostic and treatment challenge. These challenges are compounded in immunocompromised hosts such as transplant patients because the performance...

These updated guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Community of Practice of the American Society of Transplantation review the diagnosis, prevention, and management of infections due to multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacilli in the pre- and post-transplant period. MDR Gram-negative bacilli, including carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, remain a threat to successful organ transplantation. Clinicians...

Human herpes viruses are a family of double-stranded DNA viruses that cause opportunistic infections in solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Alpha-herpesviruses cause localized ulcerative mucosal and vesicular cutaneous lesions, with the tendency to disseminate if not treated early and aggressively. Beta-herpes viruses, discussed in this chapter such as human herpes viruses 6 and 7, may rarely cause a febrile illness and a skin rash; however, HHV6 in recipients of...

Cryptococcosis is the third most common invasive fungal infection among solid organ transplant recipients but has been reported very rarely in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Pulmonary cryptococcal disease is the most common clinical presentation, and the central nervous system involvement is the most common extrapulmonary site. Diagnosis is confirmed by isolation of the fungus from culture samples and measuring cryptococcal antigen in various body fluids including serum and...

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the most common opportunistic infections that affect the outcome of solid organ transplantation. This updated guideline from the American Society of Transplantation Infectious Diseases Community of Practice provides evidence-based and expert recommendations for screening, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of CMV in solid organ transplant recipients. CMV serology to detect immunoglobulin G remains as the standard method for pretransplant screening of donors...

These updated guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Community of Practice of the American Society of Transplantation review the diagnosis, prevention, and management of Nocardia infections after solid organ transplantation (SOT). Nocardia infections have increased in the last two decades, likely due to improved detection and identification methods and an expanding immunocompromised population. The risk of developing nocardiosis after transplantation varies with the type of organ...