Abstract
Although pulmonary involvement in disseminated CMV infection is known, CMV is not a generally recognized cause of interstitial pneumonitis in the absence of infection in other organ systems. Of 16 infants presenting with interstitial pneumonitis during the first 6 months of life, 7 were found to have CMV infection. Other viruses identified were influenza in 2, adenovirus type 5 in one, and parainfluenza type 1 in one, the latter concurrently with CMV infection. None of 5 healthy children with onset of interstitial pneumonitis at 6-42 months of age had CMV infection although influenza was isolated from 2 and adenovirus type 2 from a third child. CMV infection was documented by complement fixing and IgM fluorescent antibodies in all 7 infants, by virus isolation from urine in one, and by the presence of typical CMV-inclusion-bearing cells in lung tissue from the 3 who had biopsy. Lung tissue showed extensive hypertrophy and hyperplasia of type II pneumocytes and mild to severe chronic inflammatory cell infiltrates and interstitial fibrosis. Total serum IgM levels were elevated in 6 infants. The exact time of CMV infection in these 7 infants could not be documented, but was presumed to be after birth, since all were normal through the first weeks of life. Clinical recovery was complete within 6 months in 5 of the 6 followed that long. We conclude that CMV is a major cause of interstitial pneumonitis in young infants.
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Deforest, A., Huang, N., Laraya-Cuasay, L. et al. CYTOMEGALOVIRUS (CMV) CHRONIC INTERSTITIAL PNEUMONITIS IN INFANCY. Pediatr Res 8, 423 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00500
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00500