What are the symptoms of BK virus?
Generally, there are no symptoms of BK virus. How do you know I have it? BK virus is detected by a blood test. At the University of Wisconsin Hospital, we test all kidney transplant patients for the first year after transplant for the virus at your routine transplant visits. If your transplant coordinator is worried about BK she may have you do a blood test for this at your local lab. What do I need to do about it? Can you treat it? Your doctor or transplant coordinator may decrease the dose of your immunosuppression (anti-rejection) medicines. This will help your own body fight the BK virus. Sometimes, we may give you medicine to treat the BK virus. How will you know it’s gone? If you have been diagnosed with the BK virus, your coordinator will check your blood often to see if the virus is going away or getting stronger. If I have BK, will my kidney be ok? Although the BK virus can affect your transplant, your doctor and coordinator will watch the virus closely. We most often catch BK
