Cytomegalovirus (CMV) - What You Know Can Save You

by Elizabeth Campbell

The cytomegalovirus can infect the fetus before birth. Fortunately, the cytomegalovirus is generally harmless and rarely causes any illness. Healthy persons who contract this virus after birth can have symptoms but will not produce any severe illness. An infected person could carry the virus in his body throughout his lifetime but it its inactive stage.

The different kinds of infections are: - primary cytomegalovirus - recurring cytomegalovirus

A primary infection may have more adverse effect in pregnancy than the recurring type. During the times that the immune system of a person is down, the virus can become active and trigger the cytomegalovirus disease. However, the infected person will not suffer serious medical problems.

Infected persons, both children and adults do not develop any symptoms. If ever, some symptoms such as listed below, may appear between 3 to 12 weeks after exposure to the virus: - inflammation of the glands - fever - a general feeling of weakness

The cytomegalovirus is under the herpes family and as discussed earlier can live inside a person’s body for a long time in an inactive condition. Body fluids such as urine, blood, saliva, breast milk and tears may carry the virus yet remain undiagnosed due to its lack of visible symptoms.

Concerning the frequency of cytomegalovirus, it can emerge in the case of 50 - 85% of the adults over the age of 40 and it is most popular in developed countries. Besides, the risk is increased in the case of the fetus in the uterus, in the case of people who work with children and in the case of people affected by HIV.

Cytomegalovirus is spread from a person to another; therefore, it does not have any connection with water, food or animals. It does not have a great spreading rate, but it has been remarked that it can be spread more rapidly in centers for children. It can be spread by close contact by the infested person, through urine, saliva, breast milk, or other body fluids.

As previously discussed, cases of cytomegalovirus infection are hardly ever diagnosed because of lack of observable symptoms. To properly diagnose the disease, one has to undergo urine analyses and blood tests plus analysis of culture samples taken from the throat or from, the tissue. Laboratory tests to study the virus are very expensive and only a number of developed countries can afford to have them.

For infected pregnant women there are two ways to examine the fetus to find out if the baby is infected too. Samples of blood, urine, and saliva can be taken for analysis after the baby is born. The fetus may develop low level of amniotic liquid, poor intraurine development and retarded growth of brain tissue.

If a woman catches the infection during pregnancy, it can be treated by medicines. However, treatment should only be attempted if the infection has already reached a very serious level.

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