A comparison of the incidence of cytomegalovirus inclusion bodies in submandibular and tracheobronchial glands in SIDS and non-SIDS autopsies.

Submandibular salivary glands and tracheobronchial glands from postmortem examinations of 89 cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and 67 age-matched control cases in which death was not due to SIDS were examined for the presence of intranuclear and intracytoplasmic inclusions characteristic of cytomegalovirus (CMV). Inclusions were identified by light microscopy and confirmed by immunohistochemistry in submandibular glands of 5 of 89 (5.6%) SIDS and 6 of 67 (8.9%) non-SIDS patients. No inclusions were found in tracheobronchial glands. No further cases were detected following immunoperoxidase studies and examination of multiple levels of inflamed submandibular glands. Brain stem glial knots were found in only one case with CMV inclusions, which was a non-SIDS case with death due to congenital immunodeficiency. We have found no difference in the incidence of CMV inclusions in the submandibular gland between SIDS and age-matched non-SIDS infants. No strong association between CMV inclusions in salivary gland and brain stem glial knots was present.