CYTOMEGALOVIRUS BASIC INFORMATION

Cytomegalovirus is a common virus of the herpes family that infects about half of all young adults in the United States. Though it usually does not have dire consequences, and, in fact, most adult CMV infections are asymptomatic, it also affects AIDS patients, who often have serious cases of CMV because of their compromised immune system.

Such infections can occur in the eyes, lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract, brain, or bone marrow. One of the worst spinoffs of this disease is retinitis; CMV eye infection can lead to blindness.

The virus can be found in saliva, urine, and other body fluids. Also found in cervical secretions and semen, CMV can be spread by sexual contact.

Even kissing can spread it. Evidence indicates that most CMV infections are acquired via close personal
contact or sexual transmission. An incurable virus, CMV stays with a person for life, though usually in a dormant state, as does genital herpes, and both can reactivate occasionally.

Doctors use the ELISA test to diagnose CMV. Treatment for CMV involves the use of the antiviral drugs foscarnet and ganciclovir when the sufferer has AIDS-associated CMV retinitis. Currently in testing are new antiviral drugs for use in CMV infections.

One serious complication is that CMV can infect a baby in the uterus of a mother who becomes infected with CMV or has a recurrence during pregnancy. In the United States, almost 1 percent of newborns are infected. For an infant, congenital CMV can have serious complications: mental retardation, deafness, or epilepsy.

Prevention is difficult, but there is evidence that male condoms may reduce the likelihood of transmission
of CMV by oral, vaginal, and anal intercourse. Handwashing and proper handling of diapers of infected infants are important, because CMV is shed in saliva and urine.