Investigators from the Children’s Hospital of Mexico found that although CMV caused the biggest increase in risk for liver rejection, HHV-6 was the more important infection associated with rejection of kidney transplants. A single HHV-6 infection resulted in an increased risk of over 5 fold, while a coinfection of EBV, HHV-6 and HHV-7 increased the risk of kidney rejection by over 17 fold.
CMV infection increased the odds of rejection by 40X in the pediatric patients receiving liver transplants.
Plasma and leukocyte samples were tested, twice weekly, in 34 liver or kidney transplant recipients. For each virus, the plasma loads exceeded the leukocyte load.
The authors conclude that regular testing for all gamma and beta herpesviruses should be implemented in these populations.
To read the full text, see Sanchez-Ponce 2019.