Summary
Cytomegaloviæmia was demonstrated in an adult female patient who was suffering an episode of post‐transfusion mononucleosis, as a consequence of the administration of a large volume of fresh blood. The primary nature of this infection was confirmed by demonstration of a complement‐fixing antibody rise during the course of the illness to a final titre of 1 : 512. The virus was isolated from unpurified blood leucocytes, and again one week later from purified blood lymphocytes.
Although a newly acquired infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been demonstrated in this case, its ætiological role cannot be confidently assessed. The likely source of the virus is regarded as being one or more of the blood donors, and the possibility of a primary infection or a reactivation of a latent infection has been considered.
Antibody titrations were carried out on eight sets of stored sera from patients with post‐transfusion mononucleosis. Four of these showed a significant rise in antibody titre and only one set gave negative results. These results are consistent with the CMV infection having occurred in seven of these patients at the time of their episode of pest‐transfusion mononucleosis. The suggestion is made that a revision of the criteria for the utilization of fresh blood for certain groups of patients may become necessary.
Thirty-two patients with circulating atypical mononuclear cells appearing after blood transfusion~ are described. The term " post-transfusion mononucleosis " is introduced to describe this finding. In all but one of thest cases, the transfused blood was known to 'lave been freshly donated before the transfusion.Serial blood films from most of these patients have been reviewed, and the atypical mononuclear cells are described. They resemble the transformed lymphocytes which develop in tissue culture from small lymphocytes under the influence of phytoh
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