Cytomegalovirus infection in patients attending a tertiary care hospital - single center experience.

Background and objectives: Human cytomegalovirus infection poses an important public health issue. This issue in India has not received enough attention. The majority of research workers have highlighted the seroprevalence of human cytomegalovirus. Hence this study was conducted to find out true magnitude of human cytomegalovirus disease.

Materials and methods: Samples from 181 patients with suspected human cytomegalovirus disease were analyzed for human cytomegalovirus. DNA extraction was followed by real-time PCR. Human cytomegalovirus DNA-specific probes, fluorophore FAM™ and fluorophore JOE™ were utilized to detect human cytomegalovirus specific DNA and internal control at the same time. After completion of the assay, fluorescent growth curves were examined, and the response growth curves passing the threshold line in less than 36 cycles were deemed to be positive. All relevant clinical, demographic, and epidemiological information of the patients was also recorded.

Results: The most common clinical presentation was meningitis/meningoencephalitis. Out of the total samples, human cytomegalovirus infection was detected in 21% of the samples. Most positive samples were from infants (18.2%), followed by post-renal transplant cases (2.7%). Human cytomegalovirus was detected in urine samples (17.1%) followed by serum (3.8%). Four out of the 14 CSF samples were tested for other viruses as well, and they were positive for EBV (n=1, 7%), enterovirus (n=2, 14%), and varicella zoster virus (n=1, 7%).

Conclusion: PCR has a significant role in the detection of human cytomegalovirus disease at an early stage to avoid irreversible sequelae of late diagnosis.