Assessment of relationship between active ulcerative colitis and cytomegalovirus infection among Iranian patients

It has been previously reported that ulcerative colitis (UC) could be associated with cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. There is controversy among different studies; however, this study is conducted in Isfahan. We evaluated the frequency distribution of CMV infection in Iranian patients with active UC comparison to normal individuals.

This case-control study was conducted on 22 patients with active UC and 22 ageand sex-matched controls (F: M = 1). Samples were taken from colonoscopic specimens and tested with sensitive primers of the CMV using the polymerase chain reaction method, the most sensitive method for detecting CMV infection.

Patients and controls were similar in age (35.9 ± 11.03 years in the case and 40.8 ± 11.3 years in the control group) P=0.153. CMV DNA was found in 13.6% of the subjects in each group; therefore, total percentage of CMV infection was 13.6%. Six cases with CMV infection were three males and three females with age of 38.5 ± 11.02 years (compared to 38.3 ± 11.5 years in noninfected subjects P=0.968).

In our study, Iranian patients with active UC did not have a higher rate of CMV infection than controls.