Cmv virus condition

Contact can be minimized by using gloves or other protective barriers when handling body fluids or contaminated materials such as diapers or tissues , avoiding shared dishes, utensils, and other personal items, and consistent and thorough hand-washing. Antiviral drugs ganciclovir and others can be used to prevent or control the symptoms of CMV infection in immunocompromised individuals or some infants with congenital infection.

CMV immunoglobulin may also be used in some patients. Vaccines are in the development and human clinical trial stages, which shows that vaccines may help prevent initial CMV infection or decrease the severity of symptoms. For most people CMV infection is not a problem. However, two groups of people are at high risk of neurological or other severe symptoms that may lead to long-term effects:. Skip to main content. Submit Search. You are here Home » Disorders » All Disorders.

What research is being done? See More About Research. Tissue polymerase chain reaction PCR is highly sensitive for diagnosis, but is controversial for many reasons, detailed in this paper. A high index of suspicion is needed, and once diagnosis is made, treatment should be highly considered to improve the outcome of these severely ill patients. Noninvasive diagnostic tests will be available in the future and will hopefully improve the diagnosis and care of patients with CMV colitis.

For babies with signs of congenital CMV infection at birth, antiviral medications, primarily valganciclovir, may improve hearing and developmental outcomes.

Valganciclovir can have serious side effects and has only been studied in babies with signs of congenital CMV infection. There is limited information on the effectiveness of valganciclovir to treat infants with hearing loss alone.

Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. About Cytomegalovirus CMV. Some babies with congenital CMV infection have health problems that are apparent at birth or that develop later during infancy or childhood.

In the most severe cases, CMV can cause the death of an unborn baby pregnancy loss. Some babies with signs of congenital CMV infection at birth may have long-term health problems, such as:. Some babies without signs of congenital CMV infection at birth may have hearing loss. Hearing loss may be present at birth or may develop later, even in babies who passed the newborn hearing test. A pregnant woman can pass CMV to her unborn baby. This can happen when a pregnant woman is infected with CMV for the first time or is infected with CMV again during pregnancy.

People who have frequent contact with young children may be at greater risk of CMV infection because young children are a common source of CMV.