Abstract: Twenty cases of acute cytomegalovirus (CMV) hepatitis in previously healthy adults were reported. They accounted for 1.08% of all the acute hepatitis cases in the same period in our hospital. The patients, 12 males and 8 females, aged 19～45 (average 33.1), were seropositive for CMV specific IgM, serum viral markers associated with type A, B, C, D, E hepatitis and EB virus infection were all negative. The main clinical manifestations were fever in 10,fatigue in 18,anorexia in 19, nausea in 13,abdominal discomfort in 6,jaundice in 14,mild hepatomegaly in 7 and tenderness in 6,and enlarged cervical lymph nodes in one. There were mild to morderate elevation of serum alanine aminotrasferase (ALT) in 20,bilirubin in 14, and alkaline phosphotase (AKP) in 10 The symptoms subsided within 2～4 weeks,and serum transaminases returned to normal within 7～63 (26.8±12.5) hospital days in 19 cases,one was improved and discharged on the 12th hospital day. It suggests that detection of CMV specific IgM antibody might be important for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of acute hepatitis of unknown etiology in adults.

Key words: cytomegalovirus, hepatitis, adult