CASE REPORT article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Viral Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1637085
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring Clinical Application Scenarios of Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing for Pathogen DiagnosisView all 4 articles
Human Cytomegalovirus Infection-Induced Lymphocytosis Diagnosed by Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing：A Case Report And Literature Review
Provisionally accepted
- Hunan Provincial Corps Hospital of Chinese People's Armed Police Force, Changsha, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) exhibits a high prevalence and represents a major threat to immunocompromised individuals. Conventional diagnostic modalities are increasingly struggling to meet evolving clinical needs. mNGS represents a valuable tool for expeditious microbial identification in diagnostically complex cases. Case presentation: A 35-year-old male presented with fever, pharyngitis, fatigue, and marked lymphocytosis. No significant abnormalities were detected in imaging and routine tests, and conventional pathogen detection methods failed to identify any suspected pathogens. Targeted next-generation sequencing(tNGS) identified five pathogens: Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mitis group, Rhinovirus C, Cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Human herpes virus-7. Clinical symptoms alleviated within seven days of ganciclovir therapy initiation, however, lymphocytosis persisted. Subsequently, metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) was performed, confirming HCMV infection and providing a definitive diagnosis. During follow-up, the patient's symptoms had largely resolved. Conclusion: Symptomatic HCMV infections primarily affect immunocompromised individuals, while persistent lymphocytosis associated with HCMV is uncommon. This case highlights the diagnostic and therapeutic utility of mNGS in HCMV infection, especially when conventional diagnostic methods are limited, pathogen abundance is low, and the patient is immunocompromised.
Keywords: Human Cytomegalovirus, Lymphocytosis, metagenomic next-generation sequencing, Targeted next-generation sequencing, immunocompromised, case report
Received: 29 May 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Sun, Wang, Liu, Tan, Liu, Yang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaoli Liu, Hunan Provincial Corps Hospital of Chinese People's Armed Police Force, Changsha, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.