Unrecognized pretransplant and donor-derived cryptococcal disease in organ transplant recipients

Hsin Yun Sun, Barbara D. Alexander, Olivier Lortholary, Francoise Dromer, Graeme N. Forrest, G. Marshall Lyon, Jyoti Somani, Krishan L. Gupta, Ramon Del Busto, Timothy L. Pruett, Costi D. Sifri, Ajit P. Limaye, George T. John, Goran B. Klintmalm, Kenneth Pursell, Valentina Stosor, Michele I. Morris, Lorraine A. Dowdy, Patricia Munoz, Andre C. KalilJulia Garcia-Diaz, Susan L. Orloff, Andrew A. House, Sally H. Houston, Dannah Wray, Shirish Huprikar, Leonard B. Johnson, Atul Humar, Raymund R. Razonable, Robert A. Fisher, Shahid Husain, Marilyn M. Wagener, Nina Singh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background. Cryptococcosis occurring ≤30 days after transplantation is an unusual event, and its characteristics are not known. Methods. Patients included 175 solid-organ transplant (SOT) recipients with cryptococcosis in a multicenter cohort. Very early-onset and late-onset cryptococcosis were defined as disease occurring ≤30 days or >30 days after transplantation, respectively. Results. Very early-onset disease developed in 9 (5%) of the 175 patients at a mean of 5.7 days after transplantation. Overall, 55.6% (5 of 9) of the patients with very early-onset disease versus 25.9% (43 of 166) of the patients with late-onset disease were liver transplant recipients (P = .05). Very early cases were more likely to present with disease at unusual locations, including transplanted allograft and surgical fossa/site infections (55.6% vs 7.2%; P < .001). Two very early cases with onset on day 1 after transplantation (in a liver transplant recipient with Cryptococcus isolated from the lung and a heart transplant recipient with fungemia) likely were the result of undetected pretransplant disease. An additional 5 cases involving the allograft or surgical sites were likely the result of donor-acquired infection. Conclusions. A subset of SOT recipients with cryptococcosis present very early after transplantation with disease that appears to occur preferentially in liver transplant recipients and involves unusual sites, such as the transplanted organ or the surgical site. These patients may have unrecognized pretransplant or donor-derived cryptococcosis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1062-1069
Number of pages8
JournalClinical Infectious Diseases
Volume51
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1 2010

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology (medical)
  • Infectious Diseases

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