Adenovirus may cause heart transplant rejection:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Rejection of heart transplants, at least in children, may be linked to adenoviral infection, a US team has concluded. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and other research institutions, report in The New England Journal of Medicine (May 17) that PCR analysis detected viral DNA in endomyocardial biopsy specimens from 34 out of 149 transplant recipients aged up to 18 years. Some 29 (85%) of these patients had an adverse cardiac event within three months of the biopsy, in contrast to only 39 of the 115 (34%) with negative PCR findings. Adenovirus was found three times as often as the next most common virus, enterovirus. The finding suggests that all heart transplant patients should be routinely screened for viral DNA, the researchers say.