title: Fatal pneumococcal infections following allogeneic bone marrow transplant.
abstract: Six cases of fatal pneumococcal sepsis are described, occurring in the post-allograft setting, between 3 and 39 months after transplantation. Five of the six patients were suffering from chronic graft-versus-host disease and were receiving immunosuppressive therapy. Most were receiving prophylactic antibiotic therapy. This represents approximately 2% of the allograft population treated during the study period who survived for > 3 months after transplant. Pneumococcal sepsis is thus still a significant cause of death after allogeneic BMT and approaches to minimise its occurrence are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Leukaemia Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital, Surrey, UK.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rege
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Treleaven
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jameson
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Meller
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Milan
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Powles
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000628:therapy; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*