Given this intriguing association between MF and CMV, we sought to reproduce Herne et al’s finding by undertaking a retrospective blinded case-control study to compare the CMV seroprevalence rate in MF/SS patients compared with other patients attending a regional center for CTCL. The study had a power of 88% to detect a difference in prevalence of 30% between the 2 groups (60% in controls and 90% in MF/SS patients). Non-MF/SS patients attending the clinic served as controls. We tested stored serum samples from these patients for CMV IgG antibodies using two commercially available systems: one automated (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL), and the other, a manual CMV IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Trinity Biotech, Bray, Ireland). Statistical analysis was performed using Epi Info version 6.04 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA).

Age, sex, and ethnic origin were not statistically different between the MF/SS and non-MF/SS groups (Table 1). There was excellent correlation between the 2 different serologic assays. We found that 32 (60.4%) of 53 confirmed MF/SS patients were seropositive for CMV IgG, compared with 16 (61.5%) of 26