SALIVA POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION ASSAY FOR CYTOMEGALOVIRUS INFECTION

摘要

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is an important cause of disease in infants and immune-compromised adults. Most infants infected with CMV are not promptly identified because of the absence of symptoms. It has been discovered that an assay based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for testing of saliva specimens for CMV is rapid, accurate, and inexpensive. Some versions of the assay employ primers that are specific for sequences flanking the highly conserved major envelope glycoprotein B or the highly conserved immediate early 2 exon 5 genes. The assay exceeds the standard rapid culture technique in accuracy, speed, and economy. When the assay is performed on dried saliva, it loses no significant amount of accuracy, and is surprisingly much more sensitive than a PCR assay using dried blood. This assay will permit broader testing to detect and intervene in congenital CMV infection, potentially avoiding numerous cases of associated disease.