BK virus infection in kidney transplantation: a case for early intervention.

The prognosis for renal allograft survival in a patient with BK virus-associated nephropathy is distressing because nearly 50% of affected grafts are lost. With these statistics in mind, attempting clinical intervention before BK virus disease develops seems appropriate. Noninvasive screening tools such as tests to detect decoy cells in urine can enable diagnosis of BK viral infection in its early stages.