Timing and Clinical Impact of Opportunistic Infections in Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients: A 10-Year…

Cohort studyJournal of clinical medicine· Jun 2026

Timing and Clinical Impact of Opportunistic Infections in Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients: A 10-Year Single-Center Experience.

Antonia Kondou, John Dotis, Vasiliki Karava … Nikoleta Printza

Pediatric NephrologyCohort studyQ2IF 3.5

Over half of opportunistic infections in pediatric kidney transplant recipients occurred after year one

Timing and Clinical Impact of Opportunistic Infections in Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients: A 10-Year Single-Center Experience.

Antonia Kondou … Nikoleta Printza

Journal of clinical medicine · Jun 2026 · Q2 in General Medicine

Background

Opportunistic infections remain clinically important after kidney transplantation and may contribute to morbidity and graft dysfunction in pediatric recipients.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed pediatric kidney transplant recipients followed at a single tertiary center between 2014 and 2024.

Results

most opportunistic infections struck beyond the first post-transplant year

Early (≤1 year)

45.5%

Late (>1 year)

54.5%

More results

Ten patients (37.0%) developed at least one clinically significant opportunistic infection, and one patient experienced two distinct episodes, resulting in 11 infection events.

BK virus was the most frequent pathogen, followed by fungal infections and cytomegalovirus (cytomegalovirus).

More results

Late infections included cytomegalovirus, fungal infections, BK virus and West Nile virus.

No infection-related mortality was observed.

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

Clinically significant opportunistic infections occurred both early and late after pediatric kidney transplantation, with more than half of all infectious episodes developing beyond the first post-transplant year.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Although overall outcomes were favorable, BK virus-associated nephropathy remained clinically relevant because of its impact on graft function.

Timing and Clinical Impact of Opportunistic Infections in Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients: A 10-Year Single-Center Experience.

Timing and Clinical Impact of Opportunistic Infections in Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients: A 10-Year Single-Center Experience.

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