Nine patients with polyneuritis associated with cytomegalovirus infection are described. The illness usually began with a mild respiratory infection followed by a severe polyneuritis affecting the cranial nerves, the limbs and, in four instances, the respiratory muscles. One patient died after a prolonged stormy illness characterized by panophthalmitis, diabetes mellitus, and presumed acute pancreatitis. Five of the patients had atypical mononuclear cells in the peripheral blood, but the Paul Bunnell test was negative. Isolation of the virus and/or a rising complement-fixation titre to cytomegalovirus was demonstrated in all cases except one.
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