Diarrheic syndrome related to viral agents in kidney transplanted patients.

The aim of this study was to report on the occurrence of conventional and e merging viral agents as well as their etiological link with diarrhea in kid ney transplanted subjects from Cordoba, Argentina. A total of 42 stool samp les were analysed. They were obtained from both ambulatory and hospitalized kidney transplanted patients with and without diarrhea after transplant. A ll patients were under immunosuppressive treatment with steroids, azatiopri ne and cyclosporine or tacrolimus. Results revealed the presence of group A rotavirus and picobirnavirus in three patients suffering from severe diarr hea (33.33%). No enteric bacterial agent was isolated from these patients. The presence of viral agents was related to high levels of cyclosporine in blood (> 290 ng/ml) or prolonged immunosuppressive treatment. On the other hand, no virus was detected in any of the samples collected from asymptomat ic individuals (p <0.05). These findings suggest that viruses are implicate d in the ethiology of diarrheal disease in these patients.