Infectious gastroenteritis in bone-marrow-transplant recipients

Abstract

We prospectively evaluated infections with several gastrointestinal pathogens in patients undergoing bone-marrow transplantation, in an attempt to correlate infection with morbidity and mortality. Thirty-one of 78 patients (40 per cent) were infected with one or more of the following enteric pathogens during the study: adenovirus (12 infections), rotavirus (nine), coxsackievirus (four), or Clostridium difficile (12). Several patients were infected with more than one pathogen. Infection correlated with the occurrence of diarrhea and abdominal cramps. The mortality rate among the infected patients was 55 per cent--significantly higher than the rate (13 per cent) among the noninfected patients (P less than 0.001). This study indicates that enteric pathogens that often cause mild diarrhea in normal populations can cause serious infections in marrow-transplant recipients. Measures aimed at preventing or treating such infections might reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with marrow transplantation.