Is Pulmonary non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial Disease Linked with a High Burden of Latent Cytomegalovirus?

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) establishes lifelong infections with episodes of active replication. We hypothesized that recurrent CMV replication in older individuals may suppress protective immune responses to non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and so potentiate pulmonary disease. Accordingly, levels of antibodies to three CMV antigen preparations were higher in NTM patients than in age-matched controls. This did not reflect broad-spectrum B cell activation as total immunoglobulin levels were not equivalently increased.