Human herpes virus 8 infection in kidney transplant patients in Belgium

Background. Kaposi sarcoma (KS) may arise as a complication of kidney trans plantation. In the Saint Luc Teaching Hospital in Brussels, patients of bot h Belgian and foreign origin are treated. The prevalence of human herpes vi rus 8 (HHV-8) infection differs in different geographical settings. We want ed to estimate the background infection rate and the risk of infection in o ur 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 posttransplant, All s era were screened for HHV-8 by an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay using r ecombinant ORF 65 and ORF 73 antigens and an immunofluorescence assay for t he 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%). Posttra nsplantation 18/199 (9%) were positive: four (2.1% of negatives) had a docu mented 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 sero negative patients had seroconversion, which could have been acquired throug h the transplanted organ (3.3% of donors were positive) or through transfus ion.