Recovery of Cytomegalovirus from Adults with Neoplastic Disease

Abstract

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) was recovered from the urine and/or saliva of 11 of 32 adult patients with neoplastic disease. Virus excretion was not documented in any of 17 normal subjects studied in similar fashion. In 5 virus positive patients who died during the study there was postmortem confirmation of infection in the form of positive cultures of organ homogenates and/or the presence of characteristic histopathological changes. Only one patient had evidence of marked tissue damage in associated with disseminated CMV infection. There was no difference in the serial, complement fixation titers in the virus negative, virus positive, or control groups. All antemortem cytologic examinations were negative except for one virus negative patient with unconfirmed infection. Thus, virus culture was superior in comparison to complement fixation titers, cytologic examinations, or clinical suspicion in detecting current infection. Virus isolation appeared to be most frequently associated with corticosteroid therapy and hypogammaglobulinemia. Since some etiology other than CMV infection could usually be related to the various clinical abnormalities observed, virus excretion was judged to represent opportunistic, sub-clinical infection in this group of adult patients with neoplastic disease.