Spectrum of Infections in Living Donor Kidney Transplant Recipients: An Experience From a Tertiary Center in Nepal

Kidney transplant recipients are always at risk of infections because they are on lifelong immunosuppressive medications. The spectrum of infections in this special population is not the same as in the general population. Post-transplant infections are extensively studied in the developed world. Publications about post-transplant infections from Nepal are scarce. This study was carried out to study the spectrum of infections, the trends in treatment, and the incidence of tuberculosis in kidney transplant recipients.

This is a retrospective analysis of the patient data in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. Follow-up data from the first 100 kidney transplant recipients was recorded in a Microsoft Excel worksheet and descriptive analysis was done.

In the first 100 transplants done until 21 September 2011, 92 patients' data were recorded and 8 patients' data were missing. The mean follow-up period was 61.03 months. The population was 76.09% male (n = 70) and 23.91% female (n = 22). A total of 641 episodes of infections were recorded. Urinary tract infections were the most common type of infection. Escherichia coli was the most common organism isolated (36% of all cultures). There were 17 (2.65%) episodes of viral and 42 (6.6%) episodes of fungal infections. Tuberculosis was diagnosed in 6 (6.5%) patients.

Urinary tract infection is the most common type of infection in post-kidney transplant patients. Quinolones were the most common agents used to treat urinary tract infections. The incidence of tuberculosis in kidney transplant recipients is 6.5% in 5 years' follow-up.