Association of cytomegalovirus with infantile hepatitis

Yukiko Shibata, Naoko Kitajima, Jun Ichi Kawada, Naomi Sugaya, Kazuo Nishikawa, Tsuneo Morishima, Hiroshi Kimura

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Infantile hepatitis is occasionally seen in apparently healthy children. In most cases, the etiology of the infection is uncertain. However, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6), human herpesvirus-7 (HHV-7), human parvovirus B19, and TT virus (TTV) are considered to be associated with hepatitis in children. The objective of this study was to investigate the correlations between these viruses and infantile hepatitis. Twenty-six children from 1 to 24 months old (median age, 7 months) who had liver dysfunction of unknown etiology were enrolled in this study. Plasma samples were examined by a real-time PCR assay for CMV, EBV, HHV-6, HHV-7, parvovirus B19, and TTV DNA. The DNA of CMV was detected in the plasma of four patients (15.4%) and was detected significantly more often in the patient group than in the control group. The CMV-infected patients were 1 to 3 months old, which was significantly younger than the remaining patients. The serological findings did not always correlate with the results of the real-time PCR assay. The DNA of TTV was detected in four patients (15.4%), while human parvovirus B19 DNA was detected in three (11.5%). However, the detection frequencies of these viral DNAs were not significantly different from those in the control groups, and some of these patients had co-infections. These results indicate that CMV might be one of the major pathogens responsible for infantile hepatitis; however, serological tests have limited utility for the diagnosis of CMV infection in young children.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)771-777
Number of pages7
JournalMICROBIOLOGY and IMMUNOLOGY
Volume49
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2005
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Microbiology
  • Immunology
  • Virology

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