Cytomegalovirus and paediatric renal transplants: is this a current issue?
OBJECTIVE
An observational retrospective multicentre study of kidney transplants in paediatric patients was performed to evaluate the current situation of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in this population, before our participation in an international clinical trial of prophylaxis for 6 months.


METHODS
Our study included 239 patients aged <19 years, from 5 Spanish centres between 2005-2009, with 1 year of follow-up.


RESULTS
Pretransplant CMV serology was negative in 54% of recipients and 34.7% of donors. Sixty patients (25.1%) were considered at high risk (D+/R-) for CMV infection. Prophylaxis was used in 80.8% of recipients, including all high-risk patients, for an average time of 65.5 days. CMV viraemia occurred in 24.26% (58 cases among 239 patients), and disease in 6.7%. CMV infection was associated with serological status (D/R) (P<.001), positive serology of the donor (P<.001) and duration of prophylaxis <20 days (P<.05). There were no cases of patient or graft loss secondary to infection, nor resistance to treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
The main preventative strategy against CMV in paediatric renal transplantation in our country is chemical prophylaxis (81%), with an incidence of infection and disease of 24% and 6.7%, respectively. There were no serious direct or indirect effects in the first year post-transplant. The incidence is mainly linked with serological D/R and positive donor status.
Unidad de Nefrología Pediátrica. Servicio de Pediatría. Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío. Sevilla (Spain). mj.fijo.sspa@juntadeandalucia
Julia
J
Fijo-López-Viota
Laura
L
Espinosa-Román
Carlos
C
Herrero-Hernando
M José
MJ
Sanahuja-Ibáñez
Anna
A
Vila-Santandreu
Juan M
JM
Praena-Fernández
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult