Abstract

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a common disease worldwide. While infection in immunocompetent individuals has traditionally been considered a benign and self-limited, a few studies have reported the clinical manifestations and treatment of CMV infection among immunocompetent patients. Ganciclovir treatment in children with cytomegalovirus infection is still controversial and only indicated in selected cases. We report here a case of a previously healthy 52-day-old girl who developed severe CMV disease with prolonged fever and thrombocytopenia. Short-term intravenous ganciclovir treatment was associated with immediate and sustained resolution of the symptoms as well as a sharp decrease of CMV viremia. This observation suggests that antiviral therapy might be considered in select cases of severe primary CMV infection in immunocompetent children.