Transplant tourism is commonly defined as travel abroad for the purpose of transplantation, but the term evokes ethical and legal concerns about commercial transplantation. Due to the mismatch in supply and demand for organs, transplant tourism has increased over the last several decades and now accounts for 10 % of transplants worldwide. Patients from the USA who pursue transplantation abroad do so most commonly for renal transplantation, and travel mostly to China, the Philippines, and India. Transplant tourism puts the organ recipient at risk for surgical complications, poor graft outcome, increased mortality, and a variety of infectious complications. Bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections have all been described, and most concerning are the high rates of blood-borne viral infections and invasive, often fatal, fungal infections. Transplant and infectious diseases physicians should have a high degree of suspicion for infectious complications in patients returning from transplantation abroad. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis travel Cytomegalovirus Malaria Commercial transplant solid organ transplant Hepatitis B virus HIV Immunocompromise Fungal infection Kidney transplant Zycomycetes Aspergillus Wound infection Pneumocystis jiroveci Hepatitis C virus Transplant tourism Infection

patient care China organ transplantation virus infection parasitosis India human epidemiology ethics infectious complication travel surgical mortality transplant tourism Treatment Outcome graft survival Review infection prevention bacterial infection graft recipient infection risk Kidney Transplantation perioperative period legal aspect physician postoperative complication mycosis surgical risk Philippines