The Prevalence of Human Cytomegalovirus Infection in Children Leukemia by Chip Digital PCR

Background To establish a method for detecting HCMV viral load to guide clinical treatment by chip digital PCR (cdPCR). Methods 5.67×106TCID50/ml of HCMV AD169 was serially diluted to evaluate sensitive of cdPCR, HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV, EBV, HHV-6 and HHV-7 were used to evaluate the specificity of HCMV cdPCR. HCMV infection were analyzed in 110 children leukemia whole blood by RT-qPCR and cdPCR. Results The sensitive of HCMV cdPCR was up to 71 ± 32 copies/ml, which is higher than that of RT-qPCR. HCMV cdPCR did not cross react with other herpesviruses. The cdPCR effectively detected 7 HCMV positive samples, making the laboratory diagnosis rate of HCMV increased by 6.36% (7/110) for children leukemia patients. And the prevalence of HCMV infection increased from 28.18–34.54% in 110 children leukemia patients by cdPCR. Conclusion cdPCR is more sensitive to detect viral load than RT-qPCR. The cdPCR may be used to evaluate relationship between viral load and progression of HCMV infection in patients.