Comparison of three nucleic acid amplification assays of cerebrospinal fluid for diagnosis of cytomegalovirus encephalitis

The diagnostic reliabilities of three cytomegalovirus (CMV) nucleic acid am plification assays of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) mere compared by using CSF samples from human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with a postmort em histopathological diagnosis of CMV encephalitis (n = 15) or other centra l nervous system conditions (n = 16). By using a nested PCR assay the quant itative COBAS AMPLICOR CMV MONITOR PCR, and the NucliSens CMV pp67 nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay, sensitivities were 93.3, 86.6, and 93.3%, respectively, and specificities were 93.7, 93.7, and 87.5%, respect ively. The COBAS AMPLICOR assay revealed significantly higher CMV DNA level s in patients with diffuse ventriculoencephalitis than in patients with foc al periventricular lesions.