Comparison of the new Abbott Real Time CMV assay and the Abbott CMV PCR Kit for the quantitation of plasma cytomegalovirus DNAemia

CMV DNA loads measured by the new Abbott RealTime CMV PCR were significantly higher than those quantitated by the Abbott CMV PCR kit (approximately 1 log(10)), and provided a better estimate of the actual CMV load present in plasma specimens as inferred by the use of the WHO standard.