Tripathy Uttam, Yung Gordon L, Kriett Jolene M, Thistlethwaite Patricia A, Kapelanski David P, Jamieson Stuart W
Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of California, San Diego, USA.
Ann Thorac Surg. 2002 Jan;73(1):306-8. doi: 10.1016/s0003-4975(01)02723-0.
Transplant recipients living in endemic areas are at high risk of aerosol-transmitted fungal infections because of environmental exposure while on immunosuppressive drugs, as well as reactivation of latent infection from either the patient's or the donor's organs. The latter may account for early development of coccidioidomycosis after transplantation. We describe a case of pulmonary coccidioidomycosis in a lung transplant recipient who acquired the infection from the donor lung and presented with fulminant pneumonia in the immediate postoperative period.