A fatal case of West Nile virus infection in a bone marrow transplant recipient.
West Nile virus (WNV) can cause severe, potentially fatal neurological illnesses, which include encephalitis, meningitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and anterior myelitis. Because of the short viremic phase, WNV infection is most commonly diagnosed by detection of immunoglobulin M antibody to WNV in serum or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We describe a patient with T cell lymphoma who had undergone a T cell-depleted bone marrow transplantation and developed fatal WNV infection. The results of serological tests of blood samples and of CSF tests were negative. Diagnosis was made postmortem by a positive result of reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (ABI 7700; TaqMan) for WNV in stored CSF and serum samples.
Hiatt
Bradley
B
Division of Hematology, Oncology, Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, and University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
DesJardin
Lucy
L
Carter
Thomas
T
Gingrich
Roger
R
Thompson
Curt
C
de Magalhaes-Silverman
Margarida
M
D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality / Q000821:virology*; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012698:Serologic Tests; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality*; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*