Human herpes virus 8 infection in kidney transplant patients in Belgium.
BACKGROUND
Kaposi sarcoma (KS) may arise as a complication of kidney transplantation. In the Saint Luc Teaching Hospital in Brussels, patients of both Belgian and foreign origin are treated. The prevalence of human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) infection differs in different geographical settings. We wanted to estimate the background infection rate and the risk of infection in our transplant population: a first step towards evaluating the necessity of HHV-8 screening.


METHODS
Serum samples were taken from 210 organ donors over a period of 7 years (30 per year) and from 200 kidney recipients from whom two sera were tested, one pre-transplant and the second 6-12 months post-transplant. All sera were screened for HHV-8 by an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay using recombinant ORF 65 and ORF 73 antigens and an immunofluorescence assay for the latent antigen. Reactive samples were confirmed by western blotting.


RESULTS
Seven donors (3.3%) were positive for HHV-8 antibodies. Of 198 pre-transplant sera available for evaluation, 15 were positive (7.6%). Post-transplantation 18/199 (9%) were positive: four (2.1% of negatives) had a documented seroconversion and one lost the antibodies. No patients developed KS.


CONCLUSIONS
A substantial number of kidney transplant patients already had antibodies to HHV-8 at the time of transplantation. A further 2.1% of seronegative patients had seroconversion, which could have been acquired through the transplanted organ (3.3% of donors were positive) or through transfusion.
Sheldon
J
J
Department of Medical Microbiology and Genitourinary Medicine, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Henry
S
S
Mourad
M
M
Bodéus
M
M
Squifflet
J P
JP
Schulz
T F
TF
Goubau
P
P
D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D001530:Belgium; D005260:Female; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D011184:Postoperative Period; D015995:Prevalence; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral