[Tuberculosis following kidney transplantation]

Morbidity of tuberculosis following kidney transplantation is about 1% (14/1719 kidney transplantations). All cases occurred within 1 year after transplantation; surprising was the relative high incidence in patients from outside Central Europe. Four patients with lack of clinical symptoms in whom the diagnosis was made by routine X-ray films of the chest survived after immediate therapy while five of ten patients with miliary tuberculosis died although proper treatment was performed. In cases of fever not caused by rejection or in pneumonia resistant to common antibiotics prophylactic antituberculous therapy should be considered even if microbiological evidence is not yet confirmed.