Reply: Risk of Candida Infection from Contaminated Aortic Valve Allografts

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Abstract
SIR—We thank Strickett et al. for sharing their data concerning disinfection of allograft tissues contaminated with fungal organisms. They have extensive experience with tissue bank processing and report that 51 of 1621 allograft tissues collected and processed from 1985–1998 were found to be positive for fungal organisms (23 for Candida species), but after being proven culture-negative on three occasions after disinfection in a solution containing amphotericin B, these allografts were sub-sequently implanted into patients. Strickett et al. imply that since no episodes of allograft-associated fungal endocarditis were reported from Auckland, New Zealand (the city in which their institution is located) during the 13 years that the data were collected, their disinfection process for these allograftswas successful.