Simultaneous detection of opportunistic viral infections among renal transplant patients from Sina Hospital, Tehran

Aim: A proportion of renal transplant (RT) recipients are at high risk for acquisition of opportunistic infections. Methods: A total of 101 plasma and urine specimens were collected from RT patients with raised plasma creatinine. These were tested for three common viral pathogens under suspicion of post-transplant nephropathy. Results: A total of 19 (18.8%), 15 (14.8%) and 10 (9.9%) tested positive for BK virus, cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus in their plasma and/or urine, respectively. Out of the 19 BK virus positive patients, 12 (63%) were in the tested plasma samples and 17 (89%) were in the urine samples. Four asymptomatic patients had high levels of Epstein-Barr virus shedding in their urine. No co-infected patients showed nephropathy. Conclusion: Relying on plasma creatinine rising levels alone may be an unreliable indicator for evaluating opportunistic viral infections in post-transplant RT subjects.