Assessment of CMV infection in immunosuppressed patients

ABSTRACT

Cytomegalovirus is a common opportunistic infection that may lead to serious complications especially in immunocompromised patients. In our study we aimed at assessment of the extent of that infection in different groups of patients known to be immunocompromised. We chose 30 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, 30 patients with renal failure some of them were under dialysis and others were not and 30 patients with hepatic schistosomiasis in addition to 30 normal control group. To all of them routine investigations were done in addition to blood samples analyzed for CMV [IgG, IgM]. We found in all groups generally higher incidence of CMV infection compared to the control group with some variations among the different groups. We came to the conclusion that CMV is an opportunistic infection which is more common among immunocompromised patients. That infection may be serious with complications. It should be searched for among those groups of patients and treated as early as possible. Further studies are needed for other groups of immunocompromised patients and for other opportunistic infections