Successful kidney transplantation after coccidioidal meningitis

Coccidioidomycosis is a fungal infection primarily found in residents or visitors to geographic areas where Coccidioides species are endemic, including the southwestern United States, northwestern Mexico, and certain areas of Central and South America. The infection rarely disseminates, but certain populations are at higher risk of dissemination. One population at high risk of disseminated disease is solid organ transplant recipients. At our transplant center in Arizona, patients with proven coccidioidal infection before transplantation undergo thorough counseling about the risks of dissemination and possible death from coccidioidomycosis subsequent to the use of immunosuppressive medications after transplantation. Currently, patients with coccidioidal infection before transplantation are maintained on lifelong infection suppression with triazole therapy. We present the first successful case of a kidney transplant in a patient after treatment for coccidioidal meningitis without post-transplant reactivation of the coccidioidal infection.