Author(s)

Alexandre Fernandes^1*, Liliana Rocha², Teresa Costa², Paula Matos², Maria Sameiro Faria², Laura Marques¹, Conceição Mota², António Castro Henriques³

¹Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunodeficiency Department, Centro Hospitalar do Porto, Oporto, Portugal.
²Pediatric Nephrology Department, Centro Hospitalar do Porto, Oporto, Portugal.
³Kidney Transplant Department, Centro Hospitalar do Porto, Oporto, Portugal.

Introduction: Infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in pediatric patients undergoing kidney transplantation (KT). Aim and Methods: To determine the patterns of infectious complications during the first 6 months post transplantation, we report our single center experience with data from pediatric kidney recipients transplanted between 2006 and 2011. Results: Thirty-two children (20 males) were submitted to KT. The most common cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) was congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) accounting for 62%. Over the first 6 months post-transplant period, twenty-eight (87.5%) children developed a total of 77 infections, mainly urinary tract infections (UTI) (64.9%). CAKUT etiology of ESRD and UTI before KT increased the risk to develop more than one episode of UTI [71.4% vs. 14.3% and 81.8% vs. 18.2%, respectively; p < 0.05]. Twenty-three (29.9%) viral infections occurred. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) was the most common opportunistic pathogen, occurred in 11 patients and was more frequently in those with a donor (D)+/recipient (R)- CMV sero-status [74.5% vs. 25.5% (p < 0.05)]. A polyomaviruses (BKV) disease with nephropathy and meningitis was registered. The majority of infectious episodes had mild or moderate severity. No deaths occurred. Conclusion: A significant number of patients presented infectious complications during the first 6 months post transplantation. UTI are the most common type of infection, followed by viral infections, particularly CMV. Recognition, prevention and early treatment of infections are of major importance.

CMV Infection, Immunosuppression, Kidney Transplantation, Urinary Tract Infections

Fernandes, A. , Rocha, L. , Costa, T. , Matos, P. , Faria, M. , Marques, L. , Mota, C. and Henriques, A. (2014) Infections Following Kidney Transplant in Children: A Single-Center Study. Open Journal of Nephrology, 4, 117-124. doi: 10.4236/ojneph.2014.43017.