lung transplantation and cats

Question

Dear ladies and gentlemen,
Prof. Dr. TOF Wagner wrote on the 31.01.2008 on the topic transplantation and possession of pets "in general are healty pets and especially dogs, which are additionally vaccinated, no special risk, therefore one could say: no concerns..."
Now I work myself at a children's kardiology ward and from that, controversial points of view on the topic organ transplantation and animals are known to me. Especially having a cat at the time point of transplantation is seen very critically. Furthermore I have been in hospital for i.v. course of antibiotic drugs, where a nurse (admittedly very placatively argumenting) said to me, that possession of cats would make a "listing" impossible. Admittedly my health state is still quite good, so that a transplantation seems still far away, however I am still very irritated, as my husband and I are owners of two very nice cat ladies (only living in the appartment, no toxoplasmosis). I would like to know the latest update in science or simply your opinion on that.
Many thanks!

Answer

Many thanks for that question, which is discussed quite emotionally also in the lung transplantation community. We ourselves were able to show, that the possession of animals (say dogs or cats) is no contraindication for a lung transplantation and even has a positive influence on the quality of life. This is however not true for all kinds of animals. Birds lead also in non-transplanted people and non-CF patients to diseases of the lung, whereas the possession of birds is dehorted in general by lung specialists. Similarly there are special bacteria (above all atypical mycobacteria), which occur in acquariums and therefore we recommend CF patients (with or without lung transplantation) not to keep fish or similar animals.
Therefore there is no reason to give your cat away, in the contrary.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. M. Hofer, Zürich

09.07.2009