Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome transmitted by transplanted kidney: clinical course during maintenance...

We describe the clinical course of a 39-year-old man who developed AIDS during maintenance haemodialysis. The infection had been transmitted by cadaveric kidney transplantation from a donor with a history of i.v. drug abuse. Fever, splenomegaly, hypergammaglobulinaemia and thrombocytopenia were the first signs, and appeared when haemodialysis was resumed 26 months after transplantation. Twenty-eight months later the patient developed a cerebral abscess due to toxoplasma infection. A striking improvement was obtained with cotrimoxazole, but the treatment had to be stopped because of severe leukopenia. The patient died due to relapse of the cerebral abscess. End-stage renal failure does not seem to have modified the clinical course of AIDS in our patient.