Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Pública (Mar 2018)

Resistance to ganciclovir in cytomegalovirus infection after heart transplant: case report

  • Christian Rojas-Contreras,
  • Gabriel De la Cruz-Ku,
  • Stalin Vilcarromero,
  • Ruben Villacaqui Ayllon,
  • Bryan Valcarcel-Valdivia

DOI
https://doi.org/10.17843/rpmesp.2018.351.3562
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 35, no. 1
pp. 145 – 9

Abstract

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Cytomegalovirus infection after a heart transplant is a recurrent medical condition. Its frequency increases when the donors are serum-positive, and the recipients are serum-negative to this virus. In the pediatric population, the infection only develops in a small percentage and the patients rarely present resistance to conventional treatment with ganciclovir and valganciclovir. We presented the first report of a pediatric case of the cytomegalovirus infection resistant to ganciclovir and valganciclovir after a heart transplant in a Peruvian public hospital with an unusual presentation. The resistance to these drugs was evident after 277 days of evolution of the disease considering the non-remission of the symptomatology and the persistence of an elevated viral load. The administration of foscarnet led to a clinical and laboratory improvement until remission of the disease.

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