Transplant infectious disease : an official journal of the Transplantation Society
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Comparative Study
Diagnostic usefulness of a T cell-based assay for latent tuberculosis infection in kidney transplant candidates before transplantation.
The presence of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) should be evaluated before kidney transplantation. Although a new T cell-based assay for diagnosing LTBI gave promising results, this assay has not yet been compared with the tuberculin skin test (TST) for diagnosing LTBI in renal transplant candidates before transplantation. ⋯ T-SPOT.TB test was more frequently positive than TST in renal transplant candidates. However, further longitudinal studies are awaited to determine whether the ability of T-SPOT.TB assay to detect LTBI in renal transplant recipients can better predict the development of TB than can TST after transplantation.
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We report 2 cases of severe pneumonia due to the novel pandemic influenza A/H1N1 2009 in kidney transplant recipients. Our patients initially experienced influenza-like illness that rapidly progressed to severe pneumonia within 48 h. The patients became hypoxic and required non-invasive ventilation. ⋯ These cases were treated successfully with a relatively high dose of oseltamivir, adjusted for their renal function. Clinical improvement was documented only after a week of antiviral therapy. Despite early antiviral treatment, we showed that morbidity following novel pandemic influenza A/H1N1 2009 infection is high among kidney transplant recipients.