Adrenal Gland Lesions with Murine Cytomegalovirus

Excerpt

To the editor: We were interested in the report by Tapper and colleagues (1) of the very high frequency of cytomegalovirus adrenalitis in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. We have recently started studies of murine cytomegalovirus infection in T-cell-deficient nude mice in an effort to better define host-virus relationships in the development of cytomegalovirus-induced interstitial pneumonia, another common manifestation of cytomegalovirus infection in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Athymic mice inoculated with murine cytomegalovirus by the intranasal route develop a chronic, progressive wasting disease that eventually results in death. Although the virus can be isolated from many tissues,