Bacterial translocation is prolonged in burned mice infected with cytomegalovirus.

Cytomegalovirus is seen frequently in patients with burns and may enhance morbidity and mortality rates. Burned BALB/c mice that were given murine cytomegalovirus by intraperitoneal injection demonstrate increased bacterial translocation, as evidenced by positive mesenteric lymph node culture at 5 days after burn injury. The present experiment was conducted to investigate the time course and mechanism of this effect. A significant delay in the resolution of positive mesenteric lymph node cultures was observed with thermal injury alone. This was further reduced by the addition of murine cytomegalovirus infection to thermal injury. No such delay was seen with murine cytomegalovirus infection alone or in controls.