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Diagnosis:
Recovery of CMV by culture is not sufficient to diagnose acute
infection.
However, periodic assessment of CMV-DNA load in peripheral blood
by
quantitative PCR may be useful for identification of patients at high
risk of
developing CMV disease and for monitoring the effects of antiviral
therapy
(Boivin et al).
Histologic findings of viral inclusion bodies in colonic,
esophageal,
or lung tissue, as well as identification of virus by special stains or
culture, are
necessary.
CMV retinitis, however, is typically diagnosed by
ophthalmologic
findings alone in high risk patients.
A diagnosis of CMV encephalitis
can be
made by brain biopsy or by detection of
CMV-DNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
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