Travel and transplantation: travel-related diseases in transplant recipients.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Travel-related diseases may be seen in transplant recipients after travel, after transplant tourism, and via transmission from blood and organ donors, augmented by recent increases in travel, migration, and globalization. Such infections include tuberculosis, Plasmodium (malaria), Babesia, Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas disease), Strongyloides, Coccidioides, Histoplasma, Leishmania, Brucella, HTLV, dengue, among numerous others.

RECENT FINDINGS

Review of cohorts of transplant recipients show that they tend to have minimal or suboptimal preparation prior to travel, with limited pretravel vaccination, medications, and education, which poses a greatly increased risk of travel-related infections and complications. The epidemiology of such travel-related infections in transplant recipients, along with methods for prevention, including vaccines, chemoprophylaxis, and education may help SOT recipients avoid travel-related infections, and are discussed in this review.

SUMMARY

Optimizing the understanding of the risk of tropical, geographically restricted, and other unusual or unexpected, travel-related infections will enhance the safety of vulnerable transplant recipients from potentially life-threatening infections.