Cytomegalovirus antibody production in renal transplant patients.

Sera were examined from 50 patients on the renal transplant unit, Cambridge, for antibody against cytomegalovirus by complement fixation and by immunofluorescence for IgG and IgM antibodies.The incidence of antibody on admission was 84% with a possible further 8% so that nearly all had been infected at some time by CMV.43 (86%) patients showed evidence of active infection after admission, 39 by serology and four only from the examination of post-mortem material.Twenty-one patients produced IgM antibody and production was prolonged for years in patients that survived. Antibody production was related both to transplantation and admission to hospital.The evidence indicated that primary CMV infections were rare, that IgM antibody production was the result of active infection and that this could be attributed to reactivation without the need to invoke re-infection as the source although this type of patient is both susceptible and exposed to re-infection.