Vucicevic D, Carey EJ, Blair JE. Am J Transplant 2011;11:111–9.
Coccidioidomycosis is a fungal infection endemic in the Southwestern US and parts of Central and South America. Although the disease is asymptomatic or mild in immunocompetent patients, transplant recipients are at risk for disseminated disease. The authors describe the epidemiology of coccidioidomycosis in a cohort of liver transplant recipients. Post-transplant fluconazole prophylaxis seemed effective in preventing the development of active disease.
In this study from the US state of Arizona, the authors performed a retrospective review of 397 patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation between 1999 and 2007 to identify patients who developed coccidioidomycosis. The disease was classified as follows: