Article PDF :

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Article type :

Original article

Author :

Amin Abdulkarem Okbah,Amirh Abdullah Sa'aed Aljabri,Hassan Abdulwahab Al-Shamahy,Abdulrahman M Alhadi,Emad Hassan Al-Shamahi,Nawal Mohammed Al-Hababi,Naif Mohammed Al-Haidary

Volume :

10

Issue :

2

Abstract :

Background and Aims: An investigation into the prevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in children with leukemia at an oncology center in Sana’a city, Yemen, was carried out. CMV is a member of the herpesvirus family and is highly prevalent in the general population. It can cause a potentially fatal latent infection and can reactivate in terms of immune suppression as leukemia. Materials & Methods: To determine the prevalence of CMV, serum samples were collected from pediatric leukemia patients after diagnosis was confirmed by an oncologist at the Leukemia Center of Kuwait University Hospital, Sana'a, Yemen. A total of 253 pediatric leukemia patients were included in the study, 52.2% were males and 47.8% were females, the mean age of the group was 7.8 ± 3.9 years and the age of the patients ranged from 1 to 16 years. All serum samples were tested for CMV-specific IgG and IgM antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Data were analyzed by Epi-Info version 6. Odds ratio and chi-square test were used to compare between categorical variables. Statistical significance was considered as p < 0.05. Results: The prevalence of CMV infection in all participants was 79.1%, with females having a higher prevalence (81.8%) than males (76.5%). The prevalence of CMV current infection (IgM positive) was 6.3%, with females having a 7.4% higher prevalence than males; and age groups 10-14 years had the highest prevalence (9.4%). The study analyzed factors associated with CMV transmission and risk factors for leukemia in pediatric leukemia patients, revealing that 2.8% had other leukemia family members, 91.7% were undergoing chemotherapy, and 2.8% had other diseases. Conclusion: According to our findings, children with leukemia had a significantly higher prior exposure to CMV. Effective treatment and care practices can help prevent the reactivation of latent viral infections in children with leukemia. Long-term monitoring and additional research are needed to determine the factors that influence the reactivation of latent CMV infection and other latent viral infections in children with leukemia.