[Epstein-Barr virus infection and lymphoproliferative disorders in patients after renal transplantation]

We have studied EBV infection in renal transplant patients during the first year after transplantation. At trasplantation all patients were EBV seropositive and reactivation of EBV infection was demonstrated in 54% cases after one year. CMV active infection was also demonstrated in 42% of patients with EBV reactivation. No correlation was observed between EBV reactivation and age, sex, immunosuppressive treatment, degree of immunosuppression or donor/recipient HLA matching. A correlation between immunosuppressive treatment, EBV infection and lymphoproliferative disorders (LD) is described in literature, however none of our patients developed LD so far, probably due to the different immunosuppressive protocol employed.