The American Society of Transplantation Online Transplant Infectious Diseases Library

The last decade has seen an explosion of advanced assays for the diagnosis of infectious diseases, yet evidence-based recommendations to inform their optimal use in the care of transplant recipients are lacking. A consensus conference sponsored by the American Society of Transplantation (AST) was convened on December 7th , 2021, to define the utility of novel infectious disease diagnostics in organ transplant recipients. The conference represented a collaborative effort by experts in...

Recurrent urinary tract infections (RUTI) are a common health problem. The only comprehensive synthesis on antibiotic prophylaxis in the last 15 years has been a guideline-embedded meta-analysis.We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs published up to 13 October 2020, evaluating patients ≥ 12 years with either ≥2 episodes of lower UTI within 6 months, or ≥ 3 in the past year. Placebo or antibiotics were allowed as comparators. Study quality was low.In the 11...

Mycobacterium abscessus is increasingly recognized as a human pathogen causing life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients. There is a paucity of data around this topic in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients.This work was a single-center retrospective cohort study of all SOT recipients with a positive culture for M abscessus between 2013 and 2018.A total of 20 patients (55% female) met inclusion criteria, including 1 kidney recipient (5.0%), 2 liver recipients (10.0%), 12...

The ongoing 2022 multicountry outbreak of monkeypox is the largest in history to occur outside of Africa. Monkeypox is an emerging zoonotic disease that for decades has been viewed as an infectious disease with significant epidemic potential because of the increasing occurrence of human outbreaks in recent years. As public health entities work to contain the current outbreak, healthcare professionals globally are aiming to become familiar with the various clinical presentations and...

Rising antimicrobial resistance rates may impact the efficacy of empirical antibiotic treatment for febrile neutropenia in high-risk cancer patients. Lacking contemporary data about the epidemiology, antibiotic resistance patterns, and clinical outcomes from bloodstream infections (BSIs) in US cancer patients, it is unclear if current guidelines remain relevant.In a cross-sectional study, 14 US cancer centers prospectively identified BSIs in high-risk febrile neutropenic (FN) patients,...

We present our institution's protocol for evaluating and transplanting thoracic organs from COVID-19 positive donors and report the outcomes to date. Hearts from donors testing positive for COVID-19 on any test were eligible for transplantation at our institution provided the donor exhibited no evidence of hypercoagulability or COVID-19 induced hyperinflammatory state during terminal hospitalization. Lungs were eligible if the donor first tested PCR positive on nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) for...

Patients with hematologic malignancies and recipients of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) are more likely to experience severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and have a higher risk of morbidity and mortality after infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2). Compared to the general population, these patients have suboptimal humoral responses to COVID-19 vaccines and subsequently increased risk for breakthrough infections, underscoring the need for...

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Voriconazole remains the drug of choice for the treatment of IA in children; however, the complex kinetics of voriconazole in children make dosing challenging and therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) essential for treatment success. The overarching goal of this review is to discuss the role of voriconazole, posaconazole, isavuconazole, liposomal amphotericin B, echinocandins, and combination antifungal therapy...

Cryptococcal disease is one of the most common opportunistic infections among people living with advanced HIV disease and is a major contributor to severe illness, morbidity, and mortality, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. These guidelines update the recommendations that were first released in 2018 on diagnosing, preventing, and managing cryptococcal disease. In response to important new evidence that became available in 2021, these new guidelines strongly recommend a single high dose...

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BACKGROUND: Lung transplant recipients residing in the endemic region are vulnerable to severe morbidity and mortality from Coccidioides. As infection risk persists beyond the first posttransplant year, investigations evaluating extended prophylaxis durations are needed. The purpose of this study is to assess the incidence of coccidioidomycosis among lung transplant recipients receiving universal lifelong azole antifungal prophylaxis. METHODS: Patients receiving transplants from 2013-2018...

Organ transplantation from donors with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to recipients with HIV (HIV D+/R+) presents risks of donor-derived infections. Understanding clinical, immunologic, and virologic characteristics of HIV-positive donors is critical for safety.We performed a prospective study of donors with HIV-positive and HIV false-positive (FP) test results within the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act in Action studies of HIV D+/R+ transplantation (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02602262,...

Although combination therapy using trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole (TMP–SMX) plus echinocandins has been reported to reduce the mortality of patients with pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), it remains unclear whether it is more effective than TMP–SMX monotherapy, the current first-line treatment for this disease. Hence, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the efficacies of these treatment options for PCP. The Scopus, EMBASE, PubMed, CINAHL, and Ichushi databases were...

Purpose of review  Hyperammonemia syndrome is an increasingly recognized and often fatal condition that occurs in immunosuppressed individuals, most commonly lung transplant recipients. Growing evidence suggests hyperammonemia syndrome is associated with systemic infections caused by urease-producing organisms, namely Ureaplasma spp., an organism unable to grow with routine culturing techniques. This review will summarize the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of...

Abstract Background Recent studies have reported that reduced dose trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) may be effective in the treatment of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) but data is lacking for patients with hematologic malignancies. Methods This retrospective study included all adult hematologic patients with PJP between 2013 and 2017 at six Swedish University Hospitals....

Information about tracking the emerging fungal pathogen, C. auris including case counts, where cases of C. auris exist, and information about clinical cases and probable cases of Candida auris

Abstract Antifungal stewardship (AFS) programs are key to optimize antifungal use and improve outcomes in patients with invasive fungal infections. Our systematic literature review evaluated the impact of diagnostics in AFS programs by assessing performance and clinical measures. Most eligible studies were from Europe and US (n = 12/17). Diagnostic approaches included serum β-1–3-D-glucan test (n/N studies, 7/17), galactomannan test (4/17), CT scan (3/17), magnetic resonance...