Epstein–Barr Virus and Human Cytomegalovirus Infection in Intestinal Mucosa of Chinese Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

ObjectiveThis study aimed to determine the frequency of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV) in mucosa and blood of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients in China and evaluate their correlation with the clinical disease activities. MethodsPeripheral blood and endoscopic fresh colonic mucosal samples were collected from a cohort of 287 IBD patients and 50 controls. Viral DNA load was analyzed through quantitative real-time PCR. The clinical disease activity of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) was assessed by the Mayo Clinic Score and Crohn's disease activity index, respectively. ResultsAmong 287 IBD patients, 228 (79.4%) were positive for EBV and 99 (34.5%) were positive for CMV. EBV and CMV infection rates are significantly higher than those in the control group (28.0%, p