Gut Colonization Preceding Mucosal Barrier Injury Bloodstream Infection in Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is used to treat a growing number of malignant and non-malignant conditions in children and adults. The conditioning chemotherapy that patients receive in preparation for HSCT results in prolonged neutropenia and injury to mucosal surfaces, facilitating translocation of microbes across these barriers and predisposing to bloodstream infection (BSI). The most frequent causes of BSI in HSCT recipients are Enterobacteriaceae, enterococci, and viridans group streptococci [1, 2] These infections are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, with case fatality rates of 8-67% depending on the causative organism [2, 3].

Source: Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation - July 17, 2019 Category: Hematology Authors: Matthew S. Kelly, Doyle V. Ward, Christopher J. Severyn, Mehreen Arshad, Sarah M. Heston, Kirsten Jenkins, Paul L. Martin, Lauren McGill, Andre Stokhuyzen, Shakti K. Bhattarai, Vanni Bucci, Patrick C. Seed Source Type: research