[Clinical aspects of cytomegalovirus infection in nonimmunosuppressed adults].

The histological changes in cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection were first described by RIBBERT in 1881, and for years the virus was dreaded as the agent of infection in newborns. An infectious mononucleosis-like disease with negative heterophil antibodies in otherwise healthy adults was described in 1965. We present six previously healthy adults with CMV mononucleosis observed in 1984. The diagnosis was established by CMV-IgM-ELISA. All patients were febrile for an average of 20 days. The general state of health was reduced in three patients; one patient suffered from headache and another from abdominal pain. Physical examination showed splenomegaly and mild tonsillitis in one patient each, but in no case lymphadenopathy. All patients had lymhocytosis with reactive forms (virocytes). Elevation of transaminases was seen in four cases. Compared to Epstein-Barr virus mononucleosis, fever in CMV mononucleosis lasts significantly longer and lymphadenopathy is evidently rarer. The combination of fever of unknown origin, a negative heterophil antibody titer and the presence of virocytes prompts suspicion of CMV mononucleosis.