Prevalence of Human Herpesviruses Type 4,5 and 6 in Kidney Transplant Patients
herpesviruses, Cytomegalovirus, immunosuppressed, transplanted, kidney.
Human herpesviruses, including Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein Bar virus (EBV, and human Herpesvirus type 6 (HHV-6), are considered important pathogenic agents in immunosuppressed patients, especially when it comes to kidney transplant recipients. Infection with these viruses can cause serious problems for the transplanted patient, and may lead to episodes of rejection and graft loss. There are no studies on the prevalence of human herpesviruses CMV, EBV and HHV-6 in transplanted patients in the Federal District. The study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of these herpesviruses in plasma samples from 170 kidney transplant patients monitored at the University Hospital of Brasília. Also, the prevalence found was correlated with gender, post-transplantation time and treatment regimen with immunosuppressants. After extraction of nucleic acids from the plasma, the samples were tested by means of real-time PCR for each of the studied viruses. you. The results showed a prevalence of 20% (34/170) for CMV, 1.7% (3/170) for EBV and 0.6% (1/170) for HHV-6. There was no statistical difference in the prevalence of any virus evaluated between men and women. Furthermore, it was observed that the prevalence of CMV decreases with time post-transplantation, and that the immunosuppression scheme seems to influence the appearance of the infection; while the immunosuppressants sirolimus and everolimus seem to exert a protective effect against CMV infection, the immunosuppressants mycophenolate and tacrolimus seem to favor the infection. The results of this work allow knowing the real prevalence of these herpesviruses in kidney transplant patients in the Federal District, and may serve as a basis for defining protocols aimed at preventing these infections in this population