Canada: Alberta doctor sounds alarm after 7 patients contract infection from organ transplants

A disease that is more commonly associated with the trenches of the First World War, and can sometimes be found in refugee camps, has been detected in several patients in Alberta who received organ transplants.

Bartonella quintana, an infection caused by body lice, has been found in seven organ transplant recipients in Alberta since 2022, according to Dr. Dima Kabbani, a transplant infectious disease physician who treated the patients.

"It was quite alarming to us, especially that we know that this bacteria can cause a more serious type of infection because sometimes it can affect your heart valve or it can affect some of the major organs," Kabbani said.

"We were surprised to see that type of infection in Alberta."

The disease, which presents as skin lesions, was transferred to organ recipients from their deceased donors, all of whom were people who had been living with homelessness and who had been infected themselves.

"It signals that the bacteria is actually around individuals who are unhoused. So it tells you about a bigger public health problem," Kabbani said.

"If these individuals had access to just water to wash their clothes, or to shower, then we should not have been seeing this type of infection in people who are unhoused in Alberta."

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Source: CBC, 26 October 2024