Fatal Pandoraea nosoerga infection after combined liver-lung transplantation for cystic fibrosis: a recontamination by the pre-transplantation strain.

Abstract

A 26-year-old girl with a longstanding colonization by Pandoraea nosoerga underwent liver-lung transplantation for cystic fibrosis (CF) in 2018. Her brother also suffering from CF was also colonized by P. nosoerga. Despite appropriate perioperative antibiotic therapy, she had post-transplant bacteremic pneumonia caused by extensively drug-resistant P. nosoerga. Drug repurposing was used to optimize treatment options. The cause of post-transplant contamination was studied by comparative whole-genome sequencing including pre- and post-transplant strains and her brother s strains. Post-transplant contamination appeared to be due to her own pre-transplant strain, emphasizing the urgent need to study and implement effective decontamination protocols before transplantation.