Evaluation of donor-derived bacterial infections in lung transplant recipients

This study aims to evaluate the etiology and outcomes of donor-derived bacterial infections in patients undergoing lung transplantation.

Between January 2013 and December 2017, a total of 71 lung transplant recipients (56 males, 15 females; median age: 43.3 years) were retrospectively analyzed. The diagnosis of donor-derived bacterial infection was defined as the isolation of the same bacteria with the same antibiotic susceptibility patterns in a lung sample of donor and in one sample obtained from patients after transplantation and the presence of clinical evidence of infection.

Ten (14%) patients were found to have donor-derived bacterial infection. Acinetobacter baumannii was found in three, Pseudomonas aeruginosa in three, Klebsiella pneumoniae in one, Enterobacter cloacae in one, Staphylococcus aureus in one, and both Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii in one patient. Twenty-four of lung-transplant recipients and four patients with donor-derived infection died.

Lung transplants are usually performed in hospitalized patients or in those admitted to the intensive care unit. These patients commonly experience infection and colonization with resistant microorganisms.