Seroprevelance of CMV Infection in Multi-Transfused Adult Patients with Haematological Malignancies: Single Iraqi Hematology Center Experience

Transfusion-transmitted viral infections (hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) are the most common transfusion-transmitted infections. Screening for HbV, HCV, HIV are recommended by WHO to be screened for before transfusion. The aim of the study is to determine the seroprevalence of transfusion transmitted CMV infection in a subsets of hematological malignancy patients as compared to non-transfused healthy controls. A serology for the detection of CMV IgG and IgM antibodies was done for 48 multi-transfused patients with hematological malignancies and for 96 untransfused healthy controls to determine the seroprevalence of CMV in this study which showed positive CMV IgG in 84 control subjects (87.5%) and 45 patients (93.8%) with no statistically significant association in the seroprevalence of CMV IgG and history of transfusion (P value > 0.05) while positive CMV IgM was seen in 2 control subjects (2.1%) and 10 patients (20.8%) with a statistically significant association (P value < 0.05) between the seroprevalence of positive CMV IgM with exposure to the blood products. This high prevalence result of CMV infection also mandate appropriate actions include the using of leuco-depleted filters or CMV-negative blood.