The prevalence of BK polyomavirus infection in outpatient kidney transplant recipients followed in a single center.

Background: BK polyomavirus (BKV) infection has emerged as an important cause of renal allograft loss. There is no proven therapy, and much basic clinical information is still lacking.

Methods: We serially enrolled 95 outpatient renal transplant recipients (43% of whom were African American) in a single center cross-sectional screening study to determine the prevalence of BKV infection by whole blood polymerase chain reaction, and the prevalence of decoy cells by urinalysis and cytology.