Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is common among HIV seropositive patients, being difficult to diagnose because it requires cell cultures not available in all hospitals. DNA amplification is being applied for diagnosis of infectious diseases with an increase in sensitivity and specificity with respect to previous laboratory methods.
Methods: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been used in comparison with culture isolation, early antigen detection to diagnose CMV infection in 22 HIV infected patients, that suffered from symptoms compatible with CMV infection at the present time, and in other 5 patients suffering from Kaposi sarcoma. PCR was done with primer for CMV IE genomic region. The amplified sequences were detected after hybridization with a gamma-P-32 labelled probe, followed by electrophoresis in a 5% polyacrylamide gel and autoradiography.
Results: The PCR allows to detect CMV genome in cases in which other tests are negatives, in blood as well as in urine, included those patients suffering only from febrile symptoms or with other associated pathogen.
Conclusions: PCR is a sensitive method to detect CMV, although it does not establish the responsibility of CMV in HIV infected patients.