Cytomegalovirus Antibodies Amongst Immunocompromised (HIV) Patients At Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi - Araba, Lagos

Abstract

Background: CMV infection constitutes a real risk of pathogenecity in immunocompromised patient. HIV- infectedpatients who require transfusion are at high risk of developing symptomatic CMV infection when they are transfusedwith CMV-infected donor blood. This study intends to determine CMV infection risk in correlation with bloodtransfusion in a population of HIV- infected patientsMethods: The study was carried out amongst clients attending HIV clinic at Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH), who were recruited consecutively. Replacement blood donors of the hospital were recruited as controls. Atotal of 10mls of blood sample was collected per consenting participant. The serum obtained from 5ml of blood wasassayed for CMV IgG/IgM using an enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based Kit whilst full blood countand CD4 cell counts were also performed on the remaining 5mls.Results: A total of 129 HIV-infected were studied. All (100%) were IgG anti-CMV positive. 8 (6.6%) were IgM anti-CMV positive. This difference was found to be statistically significant P=0.004, (P<0.05). Of 122 replacement blooddonor controls, 118 (96%) of them were IgG anti-CMV positive whilst 26 (19.5%) of 121 were IgM anti-CMVpositive.The mean CD4+ cell count of HIV-infected patients was (234 ± 173.181). Previous history of bloodtransfusion did not affect CMV antibody positivity directly.Conclusion: The seroprevalence of CMV is very high in HIV-infected patients, which is comparable to theseroprevalence amongst the general population The use of leukoreduced blood units for anaemic HIV infectedpatients, is recommended.Keywords: Seroprevalence; CMV IgG/IgM; ELISA; healthy blood donors; HIV-infected patients.DOI: 10.3329/jom.v11i2.5462J MEDICINE 2010; 11 : 151-154