title: Ganciclovir therapy for congenital cytomegalovirus infection in six infants.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is common, and its morbidity rate is high. Ganciclovir (GCV) treatment has been used for congenital CMV infection, but there are few reports on viral loads associated with GCV therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A real-time PCR assay was used to monitor viral load in 6 cases of symptomatic CMV infection that received GCV therapy. Initially GCV was given at a dose of 5-12 mg/kg/d for 2-7 weeks. In 2 cases, additional doses were given as symptoms returned.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After GCV administration, active signs of chorioretinitis, thrombocytopenia and anemia disappeared or improved in all cases. During GCV therapy, viral loads decreased while patients improved clinically and increased again when GCV therapy was stopped. Although CMV DNA continued to be detectable for a long period, clinical findings did not always worsen. In 2 cases, an improvement of hearing loss was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GCV therapy transiently suppresses the CMV concentrations. Subsequent increases of viral titers do not appear to be correlated with the clinical course or neurologic outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Nagoya Memorial Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tanaka-Kitajima
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sugaya
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Futatani
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kanegane
authors.forename: Chizuko
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oshiro
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
authors.forename: Masahide
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Futamura
authors.forename: Tsuneo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morishima
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kimura
mesh_terms: D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000151:congenital* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015774:Ganciclovir / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015774:Ganciclovir