[Detection of BK virus activation in renal and bone marrow transplantation patients using serological and virological...

In this study, 10 renal and bone marrow transplant recipients' sera samples taken before and after transplantation and urine samples taken after transplantation were investigated for evidence of reactivation of BK virus, a human polyoma virus. BK virus reactivation was detected in 4 transplant patients serologically by hemagglutination inhibition, ELISA-IgG and ELISA-IgM tests. However we did not succeed to isolate BK virus in Vero cell lines from any urine samples. Only one patient's urine sediment whom serologic reactivation was detected, contained uroepithelial cells with intranuclear inclusion bodies characteristic for BK virus when examined by Giemsa staining.