Essential
- A man who received a given kidney returned to the hospital 10 weeks after the operation, complaining of gastrointestinal pain and fever.
- The analyzes revealed that he was infected with a parasitic worm from the grafted organ.
- A second man who received the other kidney from the donor also developed the parasitic infection.
While he had received a new kidney ten weeks earlier, a sixty -something man living the Boston region began to present several disturbing symptoms: vomiting, or even fever. But it was not at all a case of rejection, as reported by the medical journal New England Journal of Medicine of June 18, 2025.
Kidney transplant: the donor had parasites
The case study reports that the patient grafted following a terminal kidney disease has returned to the hospital, because in addition to vomiting and fever, the 61 -year -old man felt excessive, nausea, as well as abdominal and dorsal pain.
As he had taken immunosuppressive drugs since his transplant, “Many possible sources of infection” must have been studied. In parallel, the patient’s condition worsened. Intensive care had to take care of it due to respiratory failure. It was then that the doctors discovered purple spots on his abdomen.
Blood analyzes have revealed the presence of eosinophiles: a type of white blood cell that fights parasitic infections. Health professionals then looked for the culprit. Larval forms of the Stercoralis Ver Strongyloids, also known as the eel, have been discovered in its lungs, its abdomen as well as its skin.
Although the kidney donor died, the doctors were able to do analyzes thanks to a blood sample that had been kept. Antibodies against stongyloids have been discovered. “These results confirm an infection derived from the donor”writes Dr. Camille Kotton, main author of the article.
After these results, it was decided to treat the patient grafted patient with ivermectin, a powerful antiparasitic also used against the scabies sarcoptus.
Towards after a transplant: the patient who had the 2nd kidney was also treated
The continuation of the investigations revealed that the Boston patient was not the only contaminated via the donor organ. The man who had received the second kidney, was also infected with parasitic worms. The infection of this 66 -year -old patient living in Albany was discovered when his doctors were informed of the other patient’s state.
After confirmation of the diagnosis, this second medical team treated the grafted with antiparasitic drugs. He is healed, just like Boston’s patient. Although the latter was “become seriously ill with shock and respiratory failure “its renal function has been stabilized, specifies the report.