Susceptibility of clinical isolates of cytomegalovirus to human interferon.

Human cell culture-derived interferon was shown to inhibit human cytomegalovirus in vitro. A prototype strain, Davis, and six clinical isolates of cytomegalovirus were tested. All six isolates showed uniform susceptibility to interferon, exceeding that of the Davis strain by two- to fourfold. The latter virus was found to be 32 to 4 times less susceptible than the sensitive indicator, vesicular stomatitis virus. However, the laboratory finding of susceptibility to an antiviral material may not relate to its clinical effectiveness.