Organ Transplant Diesease

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CDC Finds Organ Transplant Disease

 

By ERIN McCLAM

..c The Associated Press

 

 

ATLANTA (AP) - In the first such documented cases in the United

States, three transplant patients contracted a dangerous parasitic

disease from their new organs and two of the three died, the

government says.

 

A second study, also released Thursday by the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, turned up 26 bacterial infections traced to

tissue grafts that had come from cadavers in the United States.

 

The CDC said the graft-related infections show an urgent need to

update federal regulations and industry standards for preventing

contamination.

 

In the report involving the parasitic disease, all of the organs came

from the cadaver of a Central American immigrant who was apparently

infected with T. cruzi, The parasite causes Chagas disease, which was

previously confined to Latin America. The disease can cause heart

irregularities.

 

The CDC said it was consulting with transplant organizations

nationwide to decide whether to start screening for T. cruzi.

 

``It's a complex issue,'' said Dr. Barbara L. Herwaldt, a CDC

epidemiologist. ``Which donors would be screened? What test would be

used? Right now even blood donors aren't screened for this

infection.''

 

The disease was detected in all three women, but only one recovered

after antibiotic treatment.

 

A 37-year-old who received a pancreas and kidney died in October; a

32-year-old who received a liver contracted died in July; and a 69-

year-old who received the other kidney is recovering. Their names and

hometowns were not released.

 

Federal health officials estimate as many as 100,000 Latin American

immigrants in the United States may carry the parasite. More than 16

million people are said to be infected in Central and South America.

Ten percent to 30 percent of people infected with the parasite

develop full-blown Chagas disease.

 

The second study, on bacterial infections in tissue graft patients,

was launched in November after a 23-year-old Minnesota man died from

an infection he contracted from cadaver tissue used in knee surgery.

 

A 17-year-old Illinois boy became sick after receiving two tissue

grafts from the same donor. That patient is recovering.

 

Fourteen of the 26 patients who contracted bacterial infections

received tissue processed by the same supplier, CryoLife of Kennesaw,

Ga. The CDC did not name the company or assign blame, saying

industrywide standards are not tough enough to eliminate the bacteria

responsible for most of the infections.

 

CDC scientists said they are recommending additional procedures the

industry should undertake.

 

``We are in communication with the CDC and will look at their

recommendations to see if they can logically be implemented,''

CryoLife spokesman Ron Vogeltanz told The Atlanta Journal-

Constitution. ``We already do things in excess of what the industry

asks for.''

 

The CDC stressed that tissue graft surgery is still safe, with at

least 650,000 of the procedures performed in 1999, the last year for

which figures were available.

 

On the Net:

 

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov

 

AP-NY-03-15-02 0238EST

 

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