Background
Encephalitozoon cuniculi, a microsporidial species most commonly recognized as a cause of renal, respiratory, and central nervous system infections in immunosuppressed patients, was identified as the cause of a temporally associated cluster of febrile illness among 3 solid organ transplant recipients from a common donor.
Objective
To confirm the source of the illness, assess donor and recipient risk factors, and provide therapy recommendations for ill recipients.
Design
Public health investigation.
Setting
Two transplant hospitals and community interview with the deceased donor’s family.
Patients
Three transplant recipients and the organ donor.
Measurements
Specimens were tested for microsporidia by using culture, immunofluorescent antibody, polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, and electron microscopy. Donor medical records were reviewed and a questionnaire was developed to assess for microsporidial infection.
Results
Kidneys and lungs were procured from the deceased donor and transplanted to 3 recipients who became ill with fever 7 to 10 weeks after the transplant. Results of urine culture, serologic, and polymerase chain reaction testing were positive for Encephalitozoon cuniculi of genotype III in each recipient; the organism was also identified in biopsy or autopsy specimens in all recipients. The donor had positive serologic test results for Encephalitozoon cuniculi. Surviving recipients received albendazole. Donor assessment did not identify factors for suspected Encephalitozoon cuniculi infection.
Limitation
Inability to detect organism by culture or polymerase chain reaction in donor due to lack of autopsy specimens.
Conclusion
Transmission of microsporidiosis through organ transplantation is described. Microsporidiosis is now recognized as an emerging transplant-associated disease and should be considered in febrile transplant recipients when tests for routinely encountered agents are unrevealing. Donor-derived disease is critical to assess when multiple recipients from a common donor are ill.
Primary Funding Source
None.
We present a case of a middle-aged female who was admitted to the hospital with a respiratory infection and subsequently developed an acute surgical abdomen secondary to a perforated viscous. She was found to have mucormycosis of the intestinal tract and eventually succumbed to the sequelae of the infection.
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