Does CMV shorten your life?
CMV has been associated with impaired immunity, increased morbidity due to cardiovascular diseases, and reduced lifespan and health span – the length of life spent in good health.
Can you live a normal life with CMV?
Once CMV is in a person’s body, it stays there for life. Most healthy adults and children who become infected will have no signs or symptoms and no long term effects from CMV. It can however pose serious risks to unborn babies if a pregnant woman catches it for the first time.
Is CMV virus permanent?
CMV infection is permanent Once a person has contracted CMV, they will carry it for life. This is because the virus lies dormant inside the body and may or may not reactivate itself at any time.
Is cytomegalovirus an STD?
CMV can be sexually transmitted. It can also be transmitted via breast milk, transplanted organs and, rarely, blood transfusions. Although the virus is not highly contagious, it has been shown to spread in households and among young children in day care centers.
How did I get CMV virus?
People with CMV may pass the virus in body fluids, such as saliva, urine, blood, tears, semen, and breast milk. CMV is spread from an infected person in the following ways: From direct contact with saliva or urine, especially from babies and young children.
Should I be worried about CMV?
CMV infection usually isn’t harmful in healthy adults or children because their immune system protects their bodies from infection. But CMV can cause serious health problems for some, including: Babies who get infected before birth.
What happens if you are CMV positive?
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.
What happens if CMV is left untreated?
If untreated, it can spread throughout the body, infecting organ after organ. It may cause respiratory problems, damage to the central nervous system, bleeding ulcers in the digestive system, and CMV retinitis, which can lead to blindness.
How serious is CMV?
Occasionally, CMV can cause mononucleosis or hepatitis (liver problem). People with weakened immune systems who get CMV can have more serious symptoms affecting the eyes, lungs, liver, esophagus, stomach, and intestines. Babies born with CMV can have brain, liver, spleen, lung, and growth problems.
What diseases does CMV cause?
