Pulmonary Cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA shedding in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients: implications for the diagnosis of CMV pneumonia

The implementation of effective prevention strategies has significantly reduced the incidence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) pneumonia after allogeneic hematopoietic stem transplantation (allo-HSCT)1; nevertheless, this clinical entity persists as a major clinical problem owing to poor survival, despite timely initiation of targeted antiviral therapy.1,2 Currently, diagnosis of CMV pneumonia still remains a challenge. Proven CMV pneumonia can only be diagnosed using virological, histopathological or immunochemistry methods on biopsied lung tissue1; this specimen type, however, is rarely obtained due to potential life-threatening complications.

Source: Journal of Infection - February 21, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Jos é Luis Piñana, Estela Giménez, María Dolores Gómez, Ariadna Pérez, Eva María González, Víctor Vinuesa, Juan Carlos Hernández-Boluda, Juan Montoro, Miguel Salavert, Mar Tormo, Paula Amat, Paula Moles, Carlos Carretero, Aitana Balaguer-Rosellà Source Type: research