Jurgen felt fit and healthy but underwent a transplant on doctors’ orders. Weeks later he was dead. Now his wife has a grim theory about what killed him

A transplant patient died after contracting a fungal infection in hospital. This is the third death in similar circumstances in Brisbane.

Dad Jurgen Zoller, 57, died at the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital in April.

Mr. Zoller battled cancer 20 years ago and felt healthy earlier this year, said his widow Dani Zoller-Bellette, but underwent a bone marrow transplant after a routine blood test revealed that he had a low blood count, the Courier mail reported.

While he recovered, Mr Zoller was encouraged to sit on the hospital garden veranda to get some fresh air, said Ms Zoller-Bellette, from Brisbane.

When she was there with him, she noticed helicopters flying over the garden and whipping the air.

“We often sat there with him and other transplant patients. It’s on the fifth floor and there’s a bit of a wind tunnel. We would sit there without masks,” Zoller-Bellette said.

“We had no idea of ​​the dangers of fungal infections. Jurgen was a medical professional and he did not know the dangers.

“There were plants there and there was always sand and dust flying everywhere, he even got sand in his eyes at one point.”

Mr Zoller, a senior radiologist, was admitted to the hospital in February and his condition began to deteriorate in March.

First his toe became painful, then he developed sores on his body that became infected. Eventually his liver died and he died in April.

A spokesperson for Metro North Health sent condolences to Mr. Zoller’s family during this “unbearably painful time.”

The spokesperson said the fungal infection that killed Mr Zoller was not linked to the “cluster” of similar infections which affected five patients, killing two, at Prince Charles Hospital, also in Brisbane .

“Fungi are usually found and acquired in the community and are very rarely linked to nosocomial infection,” he said.

“RBWH has extensive safety and infection control protocols. Protocols are regularly reviewed and updated to ensure patient safety. The cancer care unit at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital has for many years had a six-foot glass screen protecting the outdoor veranda, with outdoor plants to this screen.

“RBWH Cancer Care has been in the process of redesigning the conservatory for some time to improve the patient experience.

“All patients are encouraged and educated on infection mitigation strategies as part of infection control and their ongoing care.

“We have not identified a likely source of this rare fungus in RBWH or associated cases.”

Zoller-Bellette says her “future was taken away” and that her husband was a “healthy, working man” before the bone marrow transplant.

She doesn’t want anyone else to suffer like her family has had to in recent weeks.

Shine Lawyers is not investigating Mr. Zoller’s case.

The cluster of fungal infections at Prince Charles Hospital may have been caused by dust from a construction site, Queensland’s chief health officer says.

Dr Muhammad Hussain, 55, was given a second chance at life when he received a heart transplant in May, but he quickly became ill after the operation and died on September 20.

Adam Retmock, 45, a heart transplant recipient, also suffered from a fungal infection which led to his death last Friday.

As families demanded answers, the state’s chief health officer, Dr. John Gerrard, said Wednesday that building a new parking lot at the hospital could have stirred up the dirt that later found in the transplant unit.

“It’s certainly one of the things that’s being investigated,” Dr Gerrard told reporters.

“These fungi exist in the natural environment around us, so trying to determine where individual patients acquire their infection is notoriously difficult.”

Authorities are also looking into how the hospital is cleaned as part of their investigations.