Epidemiology of chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in the airways of lung transplant recipients with cystic fibrosis

Background - The source of airway colonisation with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is not well defined in patients with cystic fibrosis after lung transplantation. Using a DNA-based typing system a study was undertaken to investigate whether lung transplant recipients acquired new strains of P aeruginosa or retained those they had before transplantation. Methods - Seventy four P aeruginosa isolates taken before and after transplantation were analysed front 11 patients with cystic fibrosis who had undergone lung transplantation in the Medical School of Hannover between 1988 and 1994, The genetic relatedness of the 74 P aeruginosa strains was evaluated from macrorestriction fragment pattern similarity. Results - Each of the 11 lung transplant recipients harboured one identical P aeruginosa clone before and after transplantation. The airways of four of the 11 patients were preoperatively colonised by two or three different clones, but six months after transplantation only one clone was detectable. Conclusions - These results show that there is no change in the P aeruginosa population in the airways of lung transplant recipients before and after transplantation and it is assumed that the chronic drainage of P aeruginosa into the lung allografts is caused by the bacterial reservoir in the paranasal sinuses and the trachea.