Treatment of cytomegalovirus infection

Passive immunotherapy with high doses of pooled unscreened immunoglobulins or immunoglobulin specifically prepared from donors with high levels of antibody to CMV has few adverse side-effects and is succesful in producing good increments in CMV antibody levels. The conflicting results of treatment trials and the lack of a demonstrated antiviral effect in vivo do not encourage the use of immunoglobulin alone for the treatment of CMV disease. The prophylactic effectiveness of immunoglobulin for CMV disease in seronegative marrow transplant patients is also questionable, although there is some indication that prophylaxis in patients with less severe immune defects (for example, renal transplant patients) may be useful.