Isolation of cytomegalovirus from the blood leucocytes of a patient with post-transfusion mononucleosis

Guillain-Barré polyradiculoneuritis after blood transfusion

We report the case of a 72 year-old woman who developed acute polyradiculoneuritis 7 days after a series of 4 blood transfusion. While blood transfusion is not listed as an antedecent event of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), GBS following surgical procedures is well known. In the present case the close temporal relationship and the absence of all factors which usually precede the onset of the disease including surgery, suggest a possible role of blood transfusion in the onset of the GBS.

Latent cytomegalovirus infection in blood donors

Twenty-one out of 32 apparently healthy blood donors aged 21 to 65 years yielded positive complement fixation tests with a cytomegalovirus antigen, at titres ranging from 1:8 to 1:64. Virus was present in leucocyte cultures of fresh peripheral blood of two seropositive subjects from a total of 35 donors examined. Plasma and 48-hour stored blood specimens failed to disclose virus in culture. Viruria could not be demonstrated, and there was no evidence of recent illness in the study group. These findings suggest that subclinical viraemia is not uncommon in blood donors.

Cellular viraemia in babies infected with rubella virus before birth

Chronic viraemia has been detected in 10 out of 12 rubella syndrome babies at periods ranging from 1 to 196 days. The virus was found to be associated with leucocytes, and it is assumed that removal of neutralizing antibody is the most likely explanation for the high success rate in detecting viraemia. The findings are discussed in relation to diagnosis by virus isolation, to pathogenesis, and to the possible significance in explaining the failure of the foetus to develop a tolerance to rubella virus. Several published reports of viraemia in the acute exanthematous disease are contrasted with the less frequent reports of viraemia in the chronic disease of early postnatal life.