Herpes simplex virus-1 encephalitis in a kidney transplant patient

Abstract

The incidence of herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) infection in kidney transplant patients is 3% in those who have received antiviral prophylaxis versus 9.8% without prophylaxis. Herpes viruses usually cause mucocutaneous lesions and only occasionally cause visceral disease or central nervous system infection in immunosuppressed and immunocompetent patients. The gold standard for diagnosis is DNA detection using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the affected organ. According to the literature, it is treated with acyclovir, with which remission is expected in most cases without sequelae. Here we present the clinical case of a kidney transplant patient who had HSV-1 encephalitis (with the virus detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) through PCR), and received the standard treatment with complete recovery of his neurological state