Active infection with cytomegalovirus and herpes group viruses in children receiving corticosteroid therapy.

Abstract

Complement-fixation (CF) antibodies for cytomegalovirus (CMV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) were investigated in the sera sequentially obtained from patients without malignancies. These subjects were receiving corticosteroid therapy and were not given other immunosuppressive drugs or blood transfusions. Active CMV infection reflected by a significant rise in CF antibody titer against CMV was demonstrated in 5 of 10 patients and in 1 of 21 control patients. Four of 5 patients who exhibited significant rise of antibody titer to CMV possessed detectable CF antibodies to CMV before receiving corticosteroid therapy. The antibody titer increased between 1 and 2 months after the beginning of the therapy, and gradually decreased after cessation of the therapy. The significant rise of antibody titer to CMV, however, was not associated with definite clinical symptoms. The results suggest that corticosteroid therapy might have induced reactivation of latent CMV infection leading to subclinical endogeneous reinfection. The incidence of active infection with VZV and HSV was less frequent than that with CMV, though an increase in CF antibody titers was observed in 2 patients to VZV and in 2 patients to HSV.