Question

I have been given mock results from a PCR test on blood samplestaken from kidney recipient patients and their donors. The PCRreaction can detect single copies of viral DNA. I have been askedto determine whether 5 patients have been infected witheither human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6) or humancytomegalovirus (HCMV) following kidney transplants. I have resultsfor patients pre-transplantation and 1/3 weekspost-transplantation.

The results are as follows:

Donors:

• Donor for patient A = HCMV+
• Donor for patient B = HCMV+ & HHV6+
• Donor for patient C = Neg for both viruses
• Donor for patient D = HHV6+
• Donor for patient E = HCMV+ & HHV6+

Recipients:

• Patient A = HCMV+ before and 1 & 3 weekspost-transplant
• Patient B = Neg for both viruses before, then HHV6+ at week 1& HCMV+ at week 3 following transplantation but negative forHHV6.
• Patient C = HHV6+ before and 1 & 3 weekspost-transplant.
• Patient D = HCMV+ before and HCMV+ & HHV6+ 1 & 3 weekspost-transplant
• Patient E = HHV6+ before and HCMV+ & HHV6+ 1 & 3 weekspost-transplant

Answers: I am guessing that Patient A was re-infected by donorA. Patient B was neg for both viruses, developed HHV6 week 1 butthis test was neg week 3 & instead positive for HCMV