Dengue fever in a kidney transplant recipient with complicated clinical course: a case report

BACKGROUND: Dengue fever is the commonest mosquito-borne illness in the tropics and subtropics. Renal transplantation is one of the ever expanding modes of treatment of end-stage renal disease. Hepatitis B is a common infection in South and East Asia, but rare in Sri Lanka. Here we describe a recipient of a renal transplant with a stable graft, on antiviral treatment for hepatitis B infection, developing dengue superinfection and entering a complex clinical course. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of such a case. CASE PRESENTATION: A 59-year-old Sri Lankan woman developed acute renal failure and needed dialysis support; she had upper gastrointestinal bleeding that needed transfusions, pancytopenia, and a prolonged phase of thrombocytopenia. She eventually recovered from illness, and her renal functions returned to baseline levels. The differences in presentation, signs, symptoms, and mortality of renal transplant recipients infected with dengue fever from the general population are discussed, with possible reasons for altered presentation. CONCLUSIONS: Dengue superinfection in transplant recipients with hepatitis B infection can lead to management difficulties. The recovery can be slow as seen from this case, with prolonged thrombocytopenia.