A 69-year-old male patient presents to the department of emergency medicine at a local hospital with a fever, cough, and low blood pressure. He had a dual kidney and liver transplant three months ago and was taking a medicine called tacrolimnus, which suppresses cellular immunity (prevents T-cell activation) to prevent organ rejection. He was found to have cytomegalovirus (CMV) pneumonia. The donor of these organs tested positive for this virus but according to his family was not ill before his untimely death in an automobile accident. a. Why did the transplant recipient get sick from the virus if the organ donor was not ill? b. What broad category of immunity was suppressed in this transplant patient?
Added by Robyn S.
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The organ donor tested positive for cytomegalovirus (CMV) but was not ill before their death. This suggests that the donor had a latent CMV infection, meaning the virus was present in their body but not causing any symptoms or illness. Show more…
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