The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) has introduced that the Pennsylvania Division of Well being has develop into the primary in america to determine the transmission of Legionella from an organ on to a transplant affected person. This discovery has the potential to stop the switch of Legionella in future transplant recipients. The Division’s crew of epidemiologists, who examine the causes and patterns of ailments, found a suspected Legionella transmission from a single donor lung to 2 recipients. Sometimes, transplant sufferers with weakened immune techniques are at an elevated danger of contracting Legionella from the surroundings after receiving a transplant. Nonetheless, the Division’s analysis reveals that the 2 transplant recipients on this case had been contaminated by the organ itself, reasonably than the surroundings. Dr. Debra Bogen, Pennsylvania Performing Secretary of Well being, expressed satisfaction within the division’s epidemiologists for this groundbreaking discovery and their potential to enhance affected person outcomes and cut back severe lung infections amongst transplant recipients.

Legionella micro organism is accountable for inflicting Legionnaires illness, which is a extreme type of pneumonia. In 2022, the CDC and the Pennsylvania Division of Well being investigated circumstances of Legionnaires illness in two transplant sufferers who each obtained a single lung from the identical donor. To find out if the infections had been transmitted by means of the transplanted organs and to determine different doubtlessly at-risk sufferers, investigators studied CT scans, examined specimens for Legionella, and reviewed water high quality parameters and Legionella testing information from the transplant hospital. Immediate identification of Legionella an infection is essential for efficient remedy and to stop additional issues.

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