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Does CMV stay with you for life?
Once CMV is in a person’s body, it stays there for life and can reactivate. A person can also be re-infected with a different strain (variety) of the virus. Most people with CMV infection have no symptoms and aren’t aware that they have been infected.
What is CMV exposure?
Cytomegalovirus infection is a common herpesvirus infection with a wide range of symptoms: from no symptoms to fever and fatigue (resembling infectious mononucleosis) to severe symptoms involving the eyes, brain, or other internal organs. This virus. It requires a living cell in which to multiply.
What does it mean if you test positive for CMV?
A positive test for CMV IgG indicates that a person was infected with CMV at some time during their life but does not indicate when a person was infected. This applies for persons ≥12 months of age when maternal antibodies are no longer present.
What should be most concerned about exposure to CMV?
IMPACT: When a pregnant woman is exposed to CMV, and the virus passes through the placenta to the fetus, the virus may result in devastating issues for the baby including hearing loss, developmental disabilities, and/or microcephaly.
Is CMV contagious when dormant?
4. Once you’ve got CMV, it stays in your system forever. A type of herpes virus, CMV remains dormant in your body just like chickenpox and mono, laying low even after any noticeable symptoms subside. When dormant, it’s not contagious, but can reactivate and become contagious at any time, unbeknown to the carrier.
What does CMV do to the body?
CMV can infect the stomach and intestines, causing fever, abdominal pain, blood in the stool, and inflammation of the colon (colitis). Inflammation can also occur in the liver (hepatitis), lung (pneumonitis), and brain (encephalitis). Infection in the eye (retinitis) can cause blindness.
Who is susceptible to CMV?
People who are more likely to experience signs and symptoms of CMV include: Newborns who became infected with CMV before they were born (congenital CMV ). Infants who become infected during birth or shortly afterward (perinatal CMV ). This group includes babies infected through breast milk.
Is CMV positive bad?
The majority of children born who experience a CMV infection before birth are healthy and normal. However, 10 to 15% may have complications such as hearing loss, neurological abnormalities, or decreased motor skills. Infants who are infected with CMV after they are born rarely experience any long-term complications.
Does CMV require isolation?
CMV infection without symptoms is common in infants and young children; therefore, it is unjustified and unnecessary to exclude from school or an institution a child known to be infected. Similarly, hospitalized patients do not need separate or elaborate isolation precautions.
What is the hallmark of a CMV infection?
A hallmark of CMV infection is that the virus cycles through periods of dormancy and active infection during the life of the individual Infected persons of any age periodically shed the virus in their body fluids, such as saliva, urine, blood, tears, semen, or breast milk.
Can a healthy person be infected with CMV?
About CMV. Most people infected with CMV show no signs or symptoms. That’s because a healthy person’s immune system usually keeps the virus from causing illness. However, CMV infection can cause serious health problems for people with weakened immune systems and for unborn babies ( congenital CMV ).
Who is at risk for cytomegalovirus ( CMV )?
Childcare and healthcare workers are among those at increased risk for exposure to cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMV can cause serious birth defects in infants born to women infected during pregnancy. People infected by CMV may have minor flu-like symptoms; however, 90% of adults show no symptoms at all. CMV is a member of the herpesvirus family.
What happens if a pregnant woman has CMV?
If a pregnant woman is infected with CMV, she can pass it to her developing baby. This is called congenital CMV, and it can cause birth defects and other health problems. For pregnant women. If you are pregnant and have CMV, the virus in your blood can cross through your placenta and infect your developing baby.