Symptoms of CMV disease

CMV can cause a wide variety of clinical manifestations in solid-organ transplant recipients ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe—and possibly fatal—CMV disease. The problem is, the symptoms of CMV disease can be nonspecific and difficult to distinguish from illnesses caused by other opportunistic microbes, acute graft rejection and drug toxicity.¹

The majority of patients develop CMV disease within 1 to 4 months after transplantation. Some of the symptoms may include, but are by no means limited to¹:

Prolonged fever lasting 3 to 4 weeks
Anorexia and malaise
Hematologic abnormalities (leukopenia without the presence of atypical lymphocytes, and thrombocytopenia are common)
Organ-specific diseases such as hepatitis (liver transplants), pneumonitis (lung and heart/lung transplants), pancreatitis (pancreas transplants), and myocarditis (heart transplants)
Gastrointestinal disease
Chorioretinitis
Immunosuppression beyond that caused by immunosuppressive treatments
Opportunistic superinfections
Allograft dysfunction and rejection (although the link is controversial)

1. Sia I, Patel R. New strategies for prevention and therapy of Cytomegalovirus infection and disease in solid-organ transplant recipients. Clin Micro Rev, January 2000; 86-8.

© 2008 CSL Behring

Important Safety Information

Cytogam^® is indicated for the prophylaxis of cytomegalovirus disease associated with transplantation of kidney, lung, liver, pancreas, and heart.

Cytogam^® is contraindicated in individuals with a history of a prior severe reaction associated with the administration of this or other human immunoglobulin preparations and in persons with selective immunoglobulin A deficiency who have known antibodies to IgA.

Immune Globulin Intravenous (Human) products have been reported to be associated with renal dysfunction, acute renal failure, osmotic nephrosis and death. Patients predisposed to acute renal failure include patients with any degree of preexisting renal insufficiency, diabetes mellitus, age greater than 65, volume depletion, sepsis, paraproteinemia or patients receiving known nephrotoxic drugs. Especially in such patients, IGIV products should be administered at the minimum concentrations available and the minimum rate of infusion practicable.

Increases in serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) have been observed as soon as one to two days following IGIV infusion. Progression to oliguria or anuria requiring dialysis has been observed.

Cytogam^® is derived from human plasma. As with all plasma-derived products, the risk of transmission of infectious agents, including viruses and, theoretically, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) agent, cannot be completely eliminated.

Minor reactions, such as flushing, chills, muscle cramps, back pain, fever, nausea, vomiting, arthralgia, and wheezing, were the most frequent adverse reactions observed during the clinical trials for Cytogam^®.

For more information about Cytogam^®, please see the full prescribing information.

Cytogam^® is a registered trademark of CSL Behring AG.