Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 26, 2021; 9(6): 1455-1460
Published online Feb 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i6.1455
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease as a risk factor for cytomegalovirus hepatitis in an immunocompetent patient: A case report
Bashar Khiatah, Laya Nasrollah, Stephen Covington, Deborah Carlson
Bashar Khiatah, Deborah Carlson, Internal Medicine, Community Memorial Hospital, Ventura, CA 93003, United States
Laya Nasrollah, Stephen Covington, Department of Gastroenterology, Community Memorial Hospital, Ventura, CA 93003, United States
Author contributions: Khiatah B wrote the main manuscript; Nasrollah L, Covington S and Carlson D provided expert input and editing; all of the authors provided direct care to the patient.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was taken from the patient.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bashar Khiatah, MD, Doctor, Internal Medicine, Community Memorial Hospital, 147 N Brent Street, Ventura, CA 93003, United States. bkhiatah@gmail.com
Received: November 4, 2020
Peer-review started: November 4, 2020
First decision: December 13, 2020
Revised: December 13, 2020
Accepted: December 27, 2020
Article in press: December 27, 2020
Published online: February 26, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Almost 80 percent of adults in the United States have had cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection by age 40. The number of symptomatic CMV hepatitis cases has been increasing along with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) cases in the United States that is estimated to be 25 percent of the population. In this paper, we try to link these two entities together.

CASE SUMMARY

In this case report, we describe a young female who presented with fever, nausea, and vomiting who was found to have NAFLD and CMV hepatitis that was treated supportively.

CONCLUSION

In this case report, we describe NAFLD as a risk factor for CMV hepatitis and discuss the possible impact on clinical practice. We believe, it is essential to consider NAFLD and it’s disease mechanisms’ localized immu-nosuppression, as a risk factor of CMV hepatitis and severe coronavirus disease 2019 infection.

Keywords: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Cytomegalovirus hepatitis, Immuno-competent, Female health, Global impact, Hepatology, Case report

Core Tip: It is essential to consider non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and it’s disease mechanisms’ localized immunosuppression, as a risk factor of cytomegalovirus hepatitis and possible other viral diseases. Also, with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease raising numbers it is worthwhile to screen for it in high risk population to prevent from it's complications and risks to develop severe viral diseases in case of infection that could be life threatening.