As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spread across the globe, transplant programs suffered a setback. We report the first experience of COVID-19 infection within 1 month of living donor kidney transplant (LDKT). We describe 2 LDKT recipients who were detected positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection at day 19 and day 7 posttransplant. They had minimal symptoms at diagnosis and did not develop any respiratory complications or allograft dysfunction. Immunosuppression was de-escalated; however, nasopharyngeal swab real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) remained positive for SARS-CoV-2 for a prolonged time. Younger age, absence of other comorbidities, and lower dose of anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) used as induction possibly contributed to good outcome in our recent LDKT recipients compared with earlier published cases of recent deceased donor kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19.
Keywords: clinical research/practice; complication: infectious; immunosuppressive regimens; infection and infectious agents - viral; infectious disease; kidney transplantation/nephrology.
© 2020 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.