Transplant Safety: Recognizing Donor Derived Infections and the Need for Astute Clinicians

Transplant Safety: Recognizing Donor Derived Infections and the Need for Astute Clinicians

Transplant Safety: Recognizing Donor Derived Infections and the Need for Astute Clinicians

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent this bulletin at 02/20/2014 03:27 PM EST

This week in the CDC Expert Commentary series on Medscape, Dr. Susan Hocevar describes the first recognized cluster of transplant-transmitted microsporidiosis linked to a common organ donor.   An estimated 1% of organs transplanted in the U.S. each year are suspected to harbor a disease – either infection or cancer. Examples of transmitted pathogens or diseases include an array of parasites, fungi, bacteria, and viruses.  CDC depends on astute clinicians to alert public health authorities of unusual infections, including microsporidiosis.

The full description of this cluster of infections was published online in the March issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.