Ehrlichia chaffeensis

Record number: 
1001
Adverse Occurrence type: 
MPHO Type: 
Estimated frequency: 
First cases to describe the transmission of E. Chaffeensis through solid organ transplantation.
Time to detection: 
22 - 25 days
Alerting signals, symptoms, evidence of occurrence: 
Acute febrile illness and rapid clinical decline in 2 renal allograft patients receiving organs from a common donor. Renal disfunction, transaminitis, thrombocytopenia, hemmorhage, pulmonary infiltrates. Rapid response to doxycycline in one recipient and to tigecycline on the other, with recovery.
Demonstration of imputability or root cause: 
Recipients: serum Ehrlichia IgM and IgG seroconversion, immunofluorescence antibody assay, serum real-time PCR, kidney biopsy real-time PCR. No donor serum or tissue was available for serologic or PCR analysis.
Imputability grade: 
2 Probable
Suggest references: 
Sachdev, S.H., Joshi, V., Cox, E.R., Amoroso, A. and Palekar, S. (2014). Severe life-threatening Ehrlichia chaffeensis infections transmitted through solid organ transplantation. Transpl Infect Dis 16(1):119-24.