Patients who receive organ transplants from donors who died by drowning have higher death rates due to the risk of acquiring invasive mold infections from the donor's exposure to environmental molds.
Between 2011 and 2021, the CDC reports that 4,136 organs from 1,272 drowned donors were transplanted in patients. In a newly published study, the agency looked at the outcomes of nine organ transplant recipients from three drowned donors. They found a total of four instances of patients who acquired invasive mold infections around seven days after a transplant and subsequently died an average of eight days later.
Death occurred in every instance in which a recipient tested positive for an invasive mold infection after a transplant.
While the results do not showcase broad or inclusive trends for all in the U.S., researchers noted it should be of concern to clinicians.
"Because of the substantial need for organs and considerable mortality rates among persons awaiting transplantation, donors who drowned are considered on a case-by-case basis by transplant clinicians," researchers wrote. "Clinicians should maintain clinical suspicion for [invasive mold infections] when caring for [solid organ transplant] recipients receiving organs from drowned donors, communicate concerns about [invasive mold infections] to other recipient transplant centers in a timely manner, and consider the use of Mucorales- and Scedosporium-active antifungal prophylaxis."