Many transplant recipients are given immunosuppression therapy to prevent organ rejection after a transplant; this therapy can also diminish the recipients’ inflammatory response to infection, which makes them more prone to clinically significant infections [1]. Organ rejection has similar signs and symptoms to infection, and testing is often required to differentiate the two conditions [2].
Infections can involve bacterial, viral, fungal, and protozoal pathogens and there are multiple testing options [2]. Prescreening with PCR can rapidly identify many pathogens with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity [1]. Due to its accuracy, real-time PCR (qPCR) is the method of choice for the identification of pathogens associated with transplants [3].
Find out more about transplant-associated infections in this educational infographic.