Table 1 List of the contraindications to corneal explantation

Unknown cause of death or significant disease of unknown etiology in the medical history

Viral donor diseases: HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection, hepatitis B/C, HTLV I/II (human T-lymphotropic virus) or special risk factors for these infections

Bacterial donor diseases: syphilis or other chronic persistent bacterial infections: brucellosis, typhus, rickettsiosis, leprosy, relapsing fever, melioidosis, tularemia

Protozoonotic donor diseases: babesiosis, trypanosomiasis (e.g., Chagas disease), leishmaniasis

Active systemic infections: bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitic or of unknown cause

Fungal sepsis or sepsis with multi-resistant germs (a bacterial sepsis with the usual spectrum is not a contraindication)

Disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) of unclear cause: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, unclear rapidly progressing dementia, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, retroviral CNS disease

Hematological neoplasias, leukemias, lymphomas

Ophthalmic donor diseases with visible changes in the cornea, condition after corneal surgery, local infection, tumors of the eye

Status after post-exposure vaccination against rabies within 12 months, status after live vaccines within 4 weeks

Risk of disease transmission through prions: patients after dura mater-, cornea-, sclera-, hetero- or xenotransplantation, recipients of pituitary hormones, diagnosed Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in the donor or in the family history

Premortal use of substances that could have harmful effects on the recipient due to the transplant (e.g., poisons, heavy metals)

Donors with premortal plasma thinning of more than 50% due to previous transfusions (plasma dilution up to 22.5 ml per kg of body weight is acceptable)

Temporary exclusion: 2 years after healing of salmonellosis, Q-fever, tuberculosis, leptospirosis; 4 years after malaria cured; 4 weeks after measles, rubella, Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) or other serious viral diseases have healed

Risk of ZIKV (Zika virus) infection

Information about other unclear diseases; colonization or infection with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)/ Extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL)/ Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA)

Indications of incomplete or unreliable medical history, doubts as to the accuracy of the information

Additional information: natural death or confiscation by criminal police, diabetes mellitus, condition after chemotherapy and radiation therapy

Coronavirus disease 2019 since March 2020