Risk for Retinitis in Patients with AIDS Can Be Assessed by Quantitation of Threshold Levels of Cytomegalovirus DNA Burden in Blood

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases 1997-11, Vol.176 (5), p.1146-1155
• Main Authors: Rasmussen, Lucy, Zipeto, Donato, Wolitz, Richard A., Dowling, Anna, Efron, Bradley, Merigan, Thomas C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - complications; Adult; AIDS; AIDS/HIV; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Blood plasma; CD4 Lymphocyte Count; Cytomegalovirus; Cytomegalovirus - genetics; Cytomegalovirus - isolation & purification; Cytomegalovirus Infections - complications; Disease risk; DNA, Viral - blood; Female; Gene Dosage; Health outcomes; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Leukocytes; Major Articles; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Retinitis; Retinitis - etiology; T lymphocytes; Urine; Viral diseases; Viral diseases with cutaneous or mucosal lesions and viral diseases of the eye; Viremia - complications
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1086/514106

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a significant clinical problem. Seventy-five patients with CD4 T cell counts 320 in white blood cells or ⩾32 in plasma (P = .001), particularly when sustained (P = .005 and .008, respectively), distinguished patients who developed retinitis from those who remained free of disease. Progression to retinitis was not consistently accompanied by increases in CMV burden, indicating that quantitation of CMV burden beyond threshold levels is not necessary to predict risk for development of retinitis. Virus isolation from WBC, but not urine, was also significantly associated with risk for retinitis (P = .001).