Primary and secondary cytomegalovirus infection

Forty-seven patients who underwent renal transplants were followed clinically and were examined for serologic or virologic evidence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. There were 18 cases of primary infection and ten cases of secondary infection. These findings were based on whether the patient was seronegative or seropositive prior to transplantation. Thirteen patients with primary infection and only one patient with secondary infection had two or more of the following manifestations that are temporally associated with laboratory evidence of infection: fever, leukopenia, atypical lymphocytes, lymphocytosis, hepatosplenomegaly, myalgia, arthralgia, and pneumonitis. Five patients with primary infections, one of whom died with disseminated disease, were recognized by attending physicians as having CMV disease. Since primary infection is though to be largely due to virus transmitted by the kidney of a seropositive donor, it may be possible to prevent symptomatic primary infection by using only seronegative donors for seronegative recipients.