Studies on Cytomegalovirus Infection among HIV Positive Patients Attending Infectious Diseases Hospital, Kano State, Nigeria

Cytomegalovirus is a virus of paradoxes and can be a potential killer or a silent lifelong companion. The CMV infection in immunocompromised patients carries high morbidity and mortality. CMV infection is a common opportunistic viral infection among HIV/AIDS patients. This research therefore aimed at Studying Cytomegalovirus infection among HIV Positive Patients Attending Infectious Diseases Hospital, Kano, to ascertain the seroprevalence of specific CMV IgM antibodies among HIV positive patients and to correlate the infection rate with immune status (CD⁺₄count) of the patients. A total of 207 clients who were reactive to HIV-1/HIV-2 antibodies were enrolled in the study. Sera samples were screened serologically for the presence of specific CMV IgM antibodies by using microwell ELISA kits manufactured by Immunodiagnostics Inc. Out of 207 HIV positive patients, 27 (13.0%) were seroreactive to the specific CMV IgM antibodies of which 9 (4.3%) were males and 18 (8.7%) were females. Patients with low CD⁺₄ lymphocyte(< 100 cells/μl) were more infected by CMV.-High seroprevalence of specific CMV IgM antibodies was found among HIV patients and therefore monitoring of HIV patients with low CD⁺₄ counts for the presence of specific CMV IgM antibodies may be of paramount importance to identify those at risk of CMV disease so as to carry prophylactic treatment before they develop clinical manifestation of CMV disease (end organ disease).