Cytomegalovirus infection: A seroepidem1ologic study of a recruit population

Wenzel, R. P., D. P. McCormick, J. A. Davies, C. Berling and W. E. Beam, Jr. (Naval Medical Field Res. Lab., Camp Lejeune, N.C. 28542). Cytomegalovirus infection: A seroepidemiologic study of a recruit population. Am J Epidemiol 97: 410-414, 1973.-A seroepidemiologic study of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections was performed on a military base. Of 588 incoming recruits, 410 (69.7%) had no detectable (<2) CMV complement-fixing antibody. Six recruits (1%) had CMV antibody rises during the 14-week training period. One man with a CMV antibody rise was hospitalized with a 20-day history of marked generalized malaise and nocturnal diaphoresis. CMV antibody rises were not observed in 45 patients with etiologically undiagnosed acute respiratory disease. Similarly, no CMV antibody rises were observed in 35 patients with an infectious niononucleosis syndrome (three were monospot negative) or in 93 Australia antigen negative cases of viral hepatitis. All men who showed rises in CMV antibody had no detectable antibody when they arrived on base. These data suggest a limited communicability of CMV under the crowded conditions in which this recruit population lived. Low levels of CMV complement-fixing antibody may correlate with protection in the uncompromised host. Similar studies in the general population seem warranted. antibodies; complement fixation tests; cytomegaloviruses; recruits; respiratory tract infections; serology; virus diseases.