Cytomegalovirus infections in leukaemic children.

Abstract

AbstractTwenty‐two children receiving therapy for leukaemia were studied longitudinally for 23 months for cytomegalovirus (CMV) complement fixing (CF) antibodies and excretion. The frequency of CMV antibodies in these children was similar to that of normal children of the same age. During the period of investigation, four patients developed significant (four‐fold or greater) CMV antibody rises. All of these also excreted CMV. Two had seroconversions from negative to positive which were temporally related to the transfusion of fresh blood. Both patients produced CMV‐specific IgM either at the time of the CF rise or immediately before. Two patients with pre‐existing antibody had CF rises. One of these, who had been diagnosed only 2 months previously, had had five transfusions of fresh blood in that period. The second, who had a rise in titre and prolonged excretion of CMV, had had two units of fresh blood one month before the rise occurred. CMV‐specific IgM was not demonstrated in these two patients. Thus all four significant rises in titre followed the transfusion of fresh blood. The IgM results suggest that the two CF seroconversions were primary infections and that the other two significant rises were reinfections or reactivation.Active CMV infection did not seem to be related to alteration in the leukaemic state or therapy.