Coccidioidomycosis and Organ Transplantation: Prevention Strategies

This Master's thesis from Touro College explores the association between coccidioidomycosis, a fungal infection, and organ transplantation. The study investigates the increased risk of coccidioidomycosis in transplant recipients and the challenges in managing this infectious disease. The research reviews existing literature, examining the incidence, causes, and potential prevention strategies for donor-derived coccidioidomycosis. The methodology includes a retrospective cross-sectional study utilizing existing reports and medical records, with a sequential data analysis approach to analyze the findings. The results aim to clarify the relationship between coccidioidomycosis and organ transplantation, although the study acknowledges limitations in providing definitive prevention strategies due to the limited resources. The findings highlight the need for further research to develop effective strategies to mitigate the risks associated with coccidioidomycosis in the context of organ transplantation.

Clever one or two word title
Touro College
School of Health Science
Masters Thesis
Name of Thesis
Author: Your name goes here.
1

Clever one or two word title
Contents
Chapter One.....................................................................................................................................3
Introduction to the Study.............................................................................................................3
Statement of the Problems...........................................................................................................3
Purpose of the Study....................................................................................................................4
Limitations...................................................................................................................................4
Assumptions of the Study............................................................................................................4
Definitions of Terms....................................................................................................................4
Research Question(s)and/or Hypothesis......................................................................................4
Chapter Two....................................................................................................................................5
Review of the Literature..............................................................................................................5
First mention in literature quoting old literature like historical...................................................5
First discussed in the research literature......................................................................................5
History of work in the area..........................................................................................................6
Variations on Techniques............................................................................................................6
Clinical.....................................................................................................................................6
Only research...........................................................................................................................6
Theoretical issues in each area covered...................................................................................6
Difficulty in evaluating issues.................................................................................................6
Instrumental issues...................................................................................................................7
Relationship of your project to the above................................................................................7
Summary......................................................................................................................................7
2

Clever one or two word title
Chapter Three..................................................................................................................................9
Method.........................................................................................................................................9
Subjects....................................................................................................................................9
What instruments will you be using.......................................................................................9
Procedure................................................................................................................................9
Proposed Statistical Analysis.....................................................................................................10
Chapter Four..................................................................................................................................11
Results........................................................................................................................................11
Descriptives...........................................................................................................................11
From the sequential data analysis, the result will be found.......................................................11
Research Questions................................................................................................................11
The result will clearly represent how coccidioidomycosis is associated with organ
transplantation and what strategies the medical practitioners follow in order to prevent them.
...................................................................................................................................................11
Additional Findings..............................................................................................................11
Chapter Five...................................................................................................................................12
Discussion..................................................................................................................................12
Fate of research questions......................................................................................................12
Implications for your field of study.......................................................................................12
Implications for future research activities include what you would do differently...............12
Summary....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14
3

Clever one or two word title
Chapter One
Introduction to the Study
In the U.S population, infectious diseases are common but if it is occurring post-
transplant, then it becomes quite difficult to cope up with (Fishman, 2017). Transmission of
unwanted coccidioidomycosis disease through organ transplantation has become one of the
common but dangerous concerns in medical practice. Coccidioidomycosis is an infection, caused
by the dimorphic fungi of the Coccidioides species. It is a pulmonary disease, responsible for the
lower respiratory infection. It has been found in a study that in United States an unexpected
morbidity as well as mortality occurs after organ transplantation due to the infection of
coccidioidomycosis (Freedman, Jackson, McCotter & Benedict, 2018). In this regard, it is highly
essential to find the prevention strategy to resist the occurrence of the disease after organ
transplantation. The following paper will describe how the infectious disease is associated with
organ transplantation and how people are getting affected. It will also depict some strategies to
prevent donor-derived coccidioidomycosis. It will implement a research method and analyze the
research findings thoroughly to get the answer of the main research question. Finally, the paper
will summarize the main points to get a clear conclusion.
Statement of the Problems
There is an absence of studies that described proper ways or strategies to prevent the
disease after the transplantation of organ among patients. Even, exactly when the infection
spreads among the organ receiver is also not absolutely clear.
4

Clever one or two word title
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to review the current literature on coccidioidomycosis and
how it affects people during the period of post-transplantation of organs. This study is also
focused to explore the preventive strategies of the disease after organ transplantation. In this
way, the study will try to sort out the problems associated with it.
Limitations
The limitations of the study include the fact that the literature review as been done only
on the published literatures and the language has also been limited in English. It is also difficult
to measure all the relevant literatures objectively.
Assumptions of the Study
It is being assumed that the literature will be objective and the literature published will be
focusing on the fact of the main topic. It will present a brief detail about the infectious disease
coccidioidomycosis and its effects on the people along the prevention strategies (Schuster et al.,
2017).
Definitions of Terms
PDDTE- Potential donor-derived transmission events (Zwang et al., 2016).
OPTN- Organ procurement and transplantation network (Nelson et al., 2016).
Research Question(s)and/or Hypothesis
5

Clever one or two word title
The main research questions can be formed as how coccidioidomycosis is associated with
organ transplantation and what are the prevention strategies.
6

Clever one or two word
title
Chapter Two
Review of the Literature
Coccidioidomycosis is an infectious disease which has become a concern for the
healthcare practitioners as it transfers to the patients of organ transplant from the donors.
The mortality rate due to the donor derived coccidioidomycosis is quite noticeable and in
most of the cases, it involves donor from OPTN region 5, which is an area that includes
Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, and New Mexico (Galgiani et al., 2016).
First mention in literature quoting old literature like historical
A thorough research of relevant journals in English language, in the PubMed,
Medline and scholarly articles produced the result that case reports have been found from
the year 1950 about the donor-derived coccidioidomycosis (Laws et al., 2018).
First discussed in the research literature
Various studies and literatures suggest a rapidly increasing incidence of
coccidioidomycosis within the endemic region and report also states that the mortality is
as high as 72% in the transplant population. The studies found that at least two cases of
coccidioidomycosis are associated with the organ transplantation among 5 recipients (v et
7

Clever one or two word
title
al., 2014). Even, it poses a serious risk among the transplant recipients and in some cases
it leads to the death of the patient also.
History of work in the area
Some previous studies disclosed the fact that coccidioidomycosis is associated
with organ transplantation patients but there were limited resources stating the prevention
strategies of the disease. Studies also revealed that group meetings held during 1980-
2015, describing the possible outbreaks of coccidioidomycosis after organ transplant but
the exact prevention strategies are limited (Kirchner & Pruett, 2016).
Variations on Techniques
Clinical
A screening or test has been added before the organ transplantation in order to
avoid the disease on the recipient patient.
Only research
The researchers are in constant progress to find that people of endemic areas are
more likely to suffer from coccidioidomycosis after organ transplantation and it is one of
the significant causes of morbidity and mortality among the patients.
Theoretical issues in each area covered
8

Clever one or two word
title
How the occurrence of coccidioidomycosis among the patients of organ
transplantation is not cleared in the literatures.
Difficulty in evaluating issues
It was really difficult to measure the actual preventive strategies or way outs of
coccidioidomycosis and finding the exact time when the disease occurs after organ
transplantation is also difficult to evaluate.
Instrumental issues
While handling the medical records ethical issues might arise from the patients’
sides which can have severe affect on the research findings.
Relationship of your project to the above
a. This project is also focussed to find out the preventive strategies of
coccidioidomycosis after organ transplantation which was related to
the theoretical issues of the literatures found.
b. Many previous studies were also unable to find the same and thus they
are related to this project.
c. In the theoretical framework, this study is going to analyze reports on
the issue and it will also produce the result of the research question.
d. The theories found from the literature review are not enriched with the
prevention strategies of the disease.
9

Clever one or two word
title
Summary
Coccidioidomycosis is a common issue of medical field which is found in the
patients of organ transplantation and various deaths have occurred due to this reason.
This infectious disease mostly attacks the patients of endemic regions. Various literatures
and studies are there on this issue since 1950 and most of them produced the fact that in
kidney transplantation, liver transplantation and other organ transplantation, the risk is
high. Sometimes, donor-derived coccidioidomycosis becomes life-threatening to the
patients (Len et al., 2014). The rest of this paper is going to find out the answer of the
research questions stated at the beginning of the paper. The research question is, how
coccidioidomycosis is associated with organ transplantation and what are the strategies to
prevent them (Naeem, Mhaissen, McCarty & Rongkavilit, 2017).
10

Clever one or two word
title
Chapter Three
Method
Subjects
The main aim of the study is to find out the clear answer of the research questions
which are related to the topic coccidioidomycosis.
What instruments will you be using
In order to complete the study, a retrospective cross-sectional study has been
designed. We will be obtaining previous reports and information on the disease
coccidioidomycosis.
Procedure
All the reports will be thoroughly reviewed and data will be collected. Again, the
reports of the patients of coccidioidomycosis will be collected from the hospitals to find
out the causes behind it. Review of the reports will help in identifying if
coccidioidomycosis is associated with organ transplantation or not.
11

Clever one or two word
title
Proposed Statistical Analysis
A sequential data analysis method will be used in order to find the result of the
research question. Generally, sequential analysis method is used when the sample size is
not known and in this case, the data will be collected from the reports and literatures and
from the hospital records, in which the sample size will not be known at the beginning
(Kusne et al., 2016).
12