Infections in Hemopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients, Part II

Hemopoietic stem cell transplantation, also known as bone marrow transplantation, is a newly developed medical procedure that is now used to treat patients who were diagnosed with diseases once thought incurable such as hematologic malignancies; immune deficiencies; solid tumors such as breast and ovarian cancers; sickle cell disease; and genetic defect disorders. To minimize the risk of donor stem cell transplant rejection, recipient patients undergo severe immunosuppression therapy as part of their care. As a consequence of the patient's profound immunosuppression, opportunistic infections emerge as common causes of disease. Part II of this article reviews some of the more common opportunistic parasitic, bacterial, and viral infections that can occur in these immunocompromised patients with an emphasis on methods for their laboratory diagnosis. Part I of this article, which was published in the previous issue of this newsletter, reviewed opportunistic fungal infections in this patient group.