Long-Term Fever and Cytomegalovirus Infection in the Field of HIV Immunosuppression in Two Cases and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is an infection that most often affects immunocompromised individuals with a seroprevalence of more than 80%. CMV co-infection is associated with increased mortality in HIV-infected individuals despite antiretroviral treatment. It has the potential for hematogenous dissemination to all the organs, but only becomes symptomatic when the viral load is high. This is especially possible when the human immune system is well controlled so that the individual infected with CMV generally remains asymptomatic, and possibly for a long period. Once the immune system fails, CMV infection becomes symptomatic. Diagnosis is not easy and is often done postmortem in developing countries with limited technical facilities. We report here two cases diagnosed at the Internal Medicine Service of the CNHU-HKM in Cotonou. The patients were infected with HIV and had a long term fever. The diagnoses were made on the basis of CMV serology. The first diagnosis was post-mortem, and the second patient died 48 hours after the start of the treatment.