Da. Jabs et al., Comparison of cytomegalovirus loads in plasma and leukocytes of patients with cytomegalovirus retinitis, J CLIN MICR, 37(5), 1999, pp. 1431-1435
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA loads in paired leukocyte and plasma samples from
199 patient visits by 66 patients with CMV retinitis were determined. Leuk
ocyte CMV load determinations had a greater range of values (mean, 24,587 c
opies/10(6) leukocytes; maximum, 539,000) than did plasma CMV load determin
ations (mean, 10,302 copies/ml; maximum, 386,000), and leukocyte viral load
s were detectable in a greater proportion of patients at the time of diagno
sis of CMV retinitis prior to initiation of anti-CMV therapy (82%) than wer
e plasma viral loads (64%) (P = 0.0078). Agreement,vith CMV blood cultures
was slightly better for plasma (kappa = 0.68) than for leukocytes (kappa =
0.53), due to a greater proportion of patients with detectable viral loads
in leukocytes having negative blood cultures.