Opportunistic infections occurring in renal transplant recipients in tropical countries

Introduction: Renal transplant recipients now have better graft survival rates, but continue to develop opportunistic infections. The present study was aimed at finding the incidence of opportunistic infections in the tropical environment in live-related transplant recipients. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out retrospectively with the help of medical records at a tertiary care hospital in North India from 2006 to 2010. The demographic and transplant details were noted, and data were analyzed for any possible risk factor. Results: A total of 1270 patients were studied, of which 231 infectious episodes were detected in 196 (15.4%) patients. Within 1 month, 11.7% of patients had infection, whereas 68.4% of patients had at least one infectious episode within the first 6 months of transplant. Bacterial infection (5.9%) followed by tuberculosis (4.9%), viral (3.8%), and fungal (2.1%) were the infections encountered. Aspergillosis (32.1%) was the most common fungal infection, followed by candidiasis and mucormycosis. The most common site of involvement was lung (26.4%), followed by urinary tract (13.0%). The overall patient survival was nearly 90%. Only 20% of patients had functional graft on follow-up in whom the graft was directly involved by a particular infection. Conclusions: Posttransplant infections continue to affect graft and patient survival. Higher rates are seen in the first 6 months posttransplant.