QUANTITATIVE CYTOMEGALOVIRUS ANTIGENEMIA - CONTRIBUTION TO CLINICAL-DIAGNOSIS

Cytomegalovirus infection, commonly observed in immunodepressed patien ts, raises a number of problems both in clinical practice (early rapid diagnosis, therapeutic options) and biological research (resistant st rains, mutations). The classical methods of diagnosis do not provide s pecific information for decision making in each particular clinical si tuation. We report a case of cytomegalovirus infection in a renal tran splant recipient in which quantitative cytomegalovirus antigen level i n leukocytes provided rapid early diagnosis of the primary infection a nd two episodes of recurrent infection. Increase antigen level always preceded clinical manifestations. Three anti-cytomegalovirus regimens were given and the antigen level fell proportionally to clinical impro vement. Based on the data in the literature and this clinical observat ion, it appears that cytomegalovirus antigen level in leukocytes is a precise tool for early diagnosis of cytomegalovirus infection. The tec hnique is rapid, has an excellent sensitivity and the quantitative res ults are correlated with clinical manifestations. Quantitative anti-cy tomegalovirus antigen assay can be a very helpful tool in the manageme nt of infected immunodepressed patients.