Since herpesvirus infections have been recognized in a significant number of pediatric patients with thermal injury further studies in this patient population are warranted. These studies are designed to definitively investigate the frequency and clinical significance of herpes simplex virus and cytomegalovirus infection in burned children and to investigate the role of these agents in burned adults. Through the use of measurements of specific lymphocyte transformation responses to viral antigens and through the development of techniques to measure the production of interferon gamma in response to viral antigens, cellular immune deficiencies which may produce increased susceptibility to these agents will be investigated. With increased understanding of the natural history and importance of these infections in these patients strategies for interruption of transmission or decreasing clinical impact will be designed. Studies in a murine model of thermal injury are designed to investigate abnormalities in interferon production which may predispose to infection, which remains the leading cause of mortality in burned individuals. The development of a murine model of cytomegalovirus infection will permit investigations of interferon responses in infected mice which will parallel studies in humans. Experiments combining mouse cytomegalovirus infection with thermal injury should provide increased understanding of the immunologic consequences caused by the interaction between this infection and trauma. Investigations into the infectious complications of thermal injury, their clinical importance and the immmunologic alterations associated either with the infectious agent or the insult itself should increase the knowledge concerning this devastating and common event in humans.
| Yamaguchi, T; Shinagawa, Y; Pollard, R B (1988) Relationship between the production of murine cytomegalovirus and interferon in macrophages. J Gen Virol 69 ( Pt 12):2961-71 |
