Treatment of cytomegalovirus pneumonia after marrow transplant with combined vidarabine and human leukocyte interferon.

Seven marrow transplant recipients were treated with human leukocyte interferon and vidarabine for cytomegalovirus pneumonia. Although the mean virus titer in biopsy and autopsy lung specimens from five patients decreased from 5 x 10(4) to 1 x 10(2) 50% tissue culture infective doses, there was little clinical evidence of efficacy and only one patient survived. Treatment was stopped in four patients because of declining neutrophil counts, and two of these four patients also showed severe neurotoxicity. The combination of these agents was neither safe nor effective for the treatment of cytomegalovirus pneumonia after marrow transplantation.