CMV (Cytomegalovirus) infection: diagnosis and treatment

Are you aware of the signs of CMV infection? Many people don’t even know that they are infected with this disease. CMV infection does not harm people who have a strong immune system, but it can affect people who have a weaker immune system. Most CMV infection affects an unborn baby or newborn baby. CMV transmission happens through blood, saliva, urine, semen, and with breast milk.   

While its symptoms go away on their own, in severe cases it can lead to serious physical problems like vision loss, digestive problems, or nervous system problems. Talk to a specialist for infectious diseases if you have any concerns. 

The only way you can prevent these complications is by noticing the signs and getting treatment by consulting a doctor of Infectious diseases. 

Keep reading this article to learn more about this infection.  

Diagnosis 

To diagnose CMV infection, blood tests are mostly used in adults. A blood test shows antibodies in the blood that are made by your immune system in response to the infection. A blood test is not as effective to diagnose this infection in infants, instead, saliva tests or urine test is used.   

In the case of pregnancy, a prenatal test can determine whether your baby has this infection or not. Pregnant women already develop the antibodies so it has less chance of reactivation to infect the unborn children.  

If your doctor thinks that the virus has infected your baby, you should get the baby tested within the first three weeks of birth. If your baby has CMV, your doctor recommends some additional tests to check the health of the baby’s organs, such as the liver and kidneys.  

Testing for CMV can also be important if you have a weakened immune system. For example, if you have HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) or AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease Syndrome), or if you’ve had a transplant, your doctor may want to monitor you regularly. 

Testing for CMV is very important in case you have a weak immune system. Because of chronic diseases like HIV/AIDS, or if you had a transplant, your doctor wants to monitor you regularly to prevent any other complications.  

Treatment  

Treatment of CMV is not required for healthy adults and children as their bodies recover from it without medication.  

But in the case of newborns and people with weak immunity, they need treatment according to the symptoms they are experiencing. Treatment depends on how mild or severe your symptoms are. 

For example, the most common way of treatment is an antiviral medication which slows the reproduction of the virus (does not destroy it completely). But these antiviral medications can have some serious side effects such as organ damage. You can use over-the-counter medication such as Tylenol, ibuprofen,  or aspirin to relieve your symptoms. Drink plenty of water to avoid getting dehydrated.  

In the case of newborns, they need to stay in the hospital until their organs start functioning normally.  

Want to know more about infectious diseases? At Doral Health and Wellness, we have specialists for Infectious Diseases that can help you manage your condition. For more information, you can visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11212, or call us at 1-347-384-5690. You can also visit our website at https://doralhw.org or contact us at info@doralhw.org if you have any queries.