Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is rapidly advancing, offering promising treatments for patients with hematological malignancy. However, associated infectious complications remain a significant concern because of their contribution to patient morbidity and non-relapse mortality. Recent epidemiological insights shed light on risk factors for infections after CAR T-cell therapy. However, the available evidence is predominantly retrospective, highlighting a need for further prospective studies. Institutions are challenged with managing infections after CAR T-cell therapy but variations in the approaches taken underscore the importance of standardizing infection prevention and management protocols across different healthcare settings. Therefore, the Infectious Diseases Special Interest Group of the American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy assembled an expert panel to develop best practice considerations. The aim was to guide healthcare professionals in optimizing infection prevention and management for CAR T-cell therapy recipients and advocates for early consultation of Infectious Diseases during treatment planning phases given the complexities involved. By synthesizing current evidence and expert opinion these best practice considerations provide the basis for understanding infection risk after CAR T-cell therapies and propose risk-mitigating strategies in children, adolescents, and adults. Continued research and collaboration will be essential to refining and effectively implementing these recommendations.

Osteoarticular mycoses are chronic debilitating infections that require extended courses of antifungal therapy and may warrant expert surgical intervention. As there has been no comprehensive review of these diseases, the International Consortium for Osteoarticular Mycoses prepared a definitive treatise for this important class of infections.

The Practice Guidelines Committee of the American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy partnered with its Transplant Infectious Disease Special Interest Group to update its 2009 compendium-style infectious disease guidelines for hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). A completely fresh approach was taken with the goal of better serving clinical providers by publishing each standalone topic in the infectious disease series as a concise format of frequently asked questions (FAQs), tables, and figures. Adult and pediatric infectious disease and HCT content experts developed, then answered FAQs, and finalized topics with harmonized recommendations that were made by assigning an A through E strength of recommendation paired with a level of supporting evidence graded I through III. This second guideline in the series focuses on invasive aspergillosis, a potentially life-threatening infection in the peri-HCT period. The relevant risk factors, diagnostic considerations, and prophylaxis and treatment approaches are reviewed.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are targeted cancer therapies regarded to have less toxicity than chemotherapy. Immune‐related adverse events (irAEs) of ICIs are well described in the literature but limited data exist on their infectious complications. The objective is to describe the spectrum and risk factors for developing serious infections in patients receiving ICIs.Methods: Retrospective review of patients with melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, or nonsmall‐cell lung cancer on nivolumab, pembrolizumab, and/or ipilimumab from January 1, 2017 to November 30, 2017. Exclusion: receipt of less than two ICI doses or history of other malignancy. Characteristics: age, sex, prior chemotherapy, steroid use, and temozolomide or infliximab use. Data identified from microbiology, radiography, serology, or physician note documentation. Serious infection is defined as infections requiring hospitalization and/or IV antibiotics from initiation of ICI until the end of the study period.Results: One hundred and eleven pts received ICIs. Suspected or confirmed bacterial infections occurred in 24% (27/111) with 8% (9/111) confirmed bacterial cultures. The overall serious infection rate was 14% (16/111) with 25% (4/16) confirmed bacterial cultures. Suspected or confirmed infection sites: genitourinary 20% (22/111), pneumonia 5% (7/111), skin/soft tissue 7% (8/111). Noninfectious pneumonitis (NIP) occurred in 5% (5/111). No association regarding the risk of infection between the type of malignancy and ICI used. Steroid use was the only risk factor significantly associated with serious infection: 12/16 (75%) on steroids versus 27/95 (28.4%) without steroid use (p = 0.0003).Conclusion: The rate of serious infection with ICI was higher in our study compared with previous reports of pts treated with melanoma. Infectious complications are encountered with ICIs and correlate with steroid use.

Preventing viral infections at an early stage is a key strategy of successfully improving transplant outcomes. Preemptive therapy and prophylaxis using antiviral agents have been used successfully to prevent clinically significant viral infections in hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients. Major progress has been made over the past decades in preventing viral infections through a better understanding of the biology and risk factors as well as the introduction of novel antiviral agents and advances in immunotherapies. High quality evidence exists for the effective prevention for herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella zoster virus (VZV), and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and disease. Fewer data are available on the effective prevention of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Adenovirus (ADV) and BK virus infections. To highlight the spectrum of clinical practice, here we review high-risk situations that we handle with a high degree of uniformity, and cases that feature differences in approaches, reflecting distinct HCT practices such as ex-vivo T cell depletion.