Dr Tom Yates is an infectious disease doctor and epidemiologist based at University College London. He is looking for people with kidney disease who would like to contribute to the design of a new programme of research. Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, is a common viral infection. Historically, it was a frequent cause of death in kidney transplant recipients. This new research will allow us to better understand the role CMV plays today and to develop approaches to reducing this harm.
CMV is from the same family of viruses as herpes simplex, which causes cold sores, and varicella zoster, which causes chickenpox and shingles. Infections occur through contact with bodily fluids. Once infected, people remain infected for life. CMV can be transmitted via transplanted kidneys and other solid organs.
Tom is looking for kidney patients who might wish to contribute to this research, both people who might wish to join an occasional meeting, and those who are interested in getting more involved.
Part of the research involves using data held on patients from various sources, while removing information that might easily identify patients, such as dates of birth and NHS numbers. As a general rule, the risk that patients might be identified increases with the amount of data you hold on people. Tom would like to know whether kidney transplant recipients think that this research is sufficiently important to justify this theoretical risk, and whether they think any additional safeguards are needed.
He also seeks patients’ views on whether CMV serosorting might be feasible and acceptable in the UK transplant programme. Serosorting means giving kidneys from people infected with CMV to recipients who already have CMV, and keeping kidneys from donors who do not have CMV for uninfected recipients.
At a later date, he hopes to arrange workshops at which people with kidney disease and transplant experts can discuss the potential ways CMV serosorting might be included in the UK organ allocation algorithm (the set of rules used by the transplant programme to match organs and recipients).
How can you get in contact?
If any of this is of interest, Tom would love to hear from you. His email address is:
For more information, please see the article Tom has provided:
