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Transplant Q & AQ: My son was born with biliary atresia and was transplanted almost 4 years ago. He is now 4 1/2 years old and doing great. Are there any foods which he should not have? I've heard that he is not allowed unpasteurized food, but is there anything else I should not give him? Is there a list somewhere of the "do's and don'ts" of foods, activities, animals etc. that could help guide us? He's starting Kindergarten this year so we know he will be exposed to a lot so if you have any info it would be helpful.A: You need to pose these questions to whomever is following him from a transplant point of view. There are no generally agreed upon rules. Each patient is somewhat unique. For example, sometimes the spleen will remain somewhat enlarged, other times it does not. Sometimes the bones have been thinned by steroid use, sometimes not. I generally don't place any diet restrictions on patients unless they have high blood pressure, in which case they need a low salt diet. I don't restrict activity as long as the spleen is small and overall health is good (which it usually is). Pets aren't a big problem but some sorts of infections can be caught from cat and bird feces, so transplant recipients generally shouldn't be involved in the cage cleaning sorts of activities, but they can have a cat if they want. Again, each patient needs to have individualized advice- some patients are far more immunosuppressed than others. Dr. Punch is a transplant surgeon at the University of Michigan and a member of the C.L.A.S.S. Scientific Advisory Committee.
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