Pennsylvania Division of Health’s New Obtaining Earns CDC Recognition for Safeguarding Transplant Recipients against Extreme Lung Infections

The Centers for Illness Handle and Prevention (CDC) has announced that the Pennsylvania Division of Overall health has turn into the initially in the United States to recognize the transmission of Legionella from an organ straight to a transplant patient. This discovery has the prospective to protect against the transfer of Legionella in future transplant recipients. The Department’s group of epidemiologists, who investigate the causes and patterns of illnesses, found a suspected Legionella transmission from a single donor lung to two recipients. Generally, transplant individuals with weakened immune systems are at an elevated danger of contracting Legionella from the atmosphere soon after getting a transplant. Nevertheless, the Department’s study reveals that the two transplant recipients in this case have been infected by the organ itself, rather than the atmosphere. Dr. Debra Bogen, Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Overall health, expressed pride in the department’s epidemiologists for this groundbreaking discovery and their prospective to boost patient outcomes and cut down significant lung infections amongst transplant recipients.

Legionella bacteria is accountable for causing Legionnaires illness, which is a extreme kind of pneumonia. In 2022, the CDC and the Pennsylvania Division of Overall health investigated circumstances of Legionnaires illness in two transplant individuals who each received a single lung from the similar donor. To figure out if the infections have been transmitted by way of the transplanted organs and to recognize other potentially at-danger individuals, investigators studied CT scans, tested specimens for Legionella, and reviewed water good quality parameters and Legionella testing records from the transplant hospital. Prompt identification of Legionella infection is critical for powerful remedy and to protect against additional complications.

The Pennsylvania Division of Health’s study on this transmission of Legionella from organ to transplant recipient has been published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). For media inquiries, please make contact with Mark O’Neill at ra-dhpressoffice@pa.gov.