CYTOMEGALOVIRUS INFECTION

Cytomegalovirus can cause lifelong latency and reactivates when the patientbecome immunocompromised and can cause severe complications. Patients on hemodialysisare on risk of CMV infection due to multiple blood transfusions and impaired immunity. Serologyof the patient does not detect the latent infection. Objectives: To check the frequency ofcytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in patients on hemodialysis. Design: Observational study.Setting: Gulab Devi Chest Hospital & Lahore General Hospital Lahore. Period: six month.Material and Methods: 31 patients that were on hemodialysis were enrolled in this study. CMVDNA detection was done from the peripheral blood with consent from the patients. The 222bpband corresponding to the size marker and positive control was considered as positive. Thedata was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: Age, gender and socioeconomic statushad no association with CMV infection. No patient was found positive for CMV DNA. Serumcreatinine levels were significantly associated with the duration on dialysis. Hypertension anddiabetes were diagnosed as major co-morbidities. In this study none of the sample testedpositive for CMV DNA. Conclusions: There is a need to conduct large population based studyto establish the sero-prevalance of CMV infection in Pakistani population as no description isavailable yet. Furthermore, the blood should be screened for CMV viremia or antibodies prior totransfusion to rule out risks associated with reactivation of latent infection in critically ill patients.