Cytomegalovirus is a virus that is widely spread all over the world among adults and children, belonging to the group of herpes viruses. Since this virus was discovered relatively recently, in 1956, it is still not well understood, and in the scientific world to this day is the subject of active discussions.
Cytomegalovirus is quite common, antibodies of this virus are found in 10-15% of adolescents and young people. In people aged 35 and over, it is found in 50% of cases. Cytomegalovirus is found in biological tissues - sperm, saliva, urine, tears. When you enter the body, the virus does not disappear, but continues to live with its owner.
What is it?
Cytomegalovirus( another name - CMV infection) is a disease of an infectious nature, which is attributed to the family of herpesviruses. This virus affects a person both in utero and in other ways. So, cytomegalovirus can be transmitted by sexual, airborne alimentary way.
How is the virus transmitted?
Transmission routes for cytomegalovirus are diverse, as the virus can be found in the blood, saliva, milk, urine, feces, semen, cervical secretion. Possible airborne transmission, transmission with blood transfusions, sexual intercourse, possibly transplacental intrauterine infection. An important place is contamination during childbirth and when breastfeeding a sick mother.
There are cases when a carrier of a virus does not even suspect about it, especially in those situations when the symptomatology is almost not manifested. Therefore, one should not consider a patient as a patient of a cytomegalovirus, since in the body, he can never manifest himself in his whole life.
However, hypothermia and subsequent decrease in immunity become factors provoking cytomegalovirus. Symptoms of the disease are also manifested due to stress.
Cytomegalovirus igg antibodies detected - what does this mean?
IgM are antibodies that the immune system begins to produce 4-7 weeks after a person is first infected with cytomegalovirus. Antibodies of this type are also produced each time when the cytomegalovirus, left in the human body after the previous infection, begins to actively multiply again.
Accordingly, if you have a positive( elevated) IgM antibody titer against cytomegalovirus, it means:
- That you have been infected with cytomegalovirus recently( not earlier than within the last year);
- That you have been infected with cytomegalovirus for a long time, but recently this infection began to multiply again in your body.
A positive IgM antibody titer can persist in human blood for at least 4-12 months after infection. Over time, antibodies like IgM disappear from the blood of a person infected with cytomegalovirus.
The development of the disease
The incubation period is 20-60 days, acute during 2-6 weeks after the incubation period. The presence in the body in a latent state both after infection and during periods of fading is unlimited.
Even the field of treatment course the virus in the body lives for life, maintaining the risk of recurrence, therefore, the safety of pregnancy and full-fledged doctors can not guarantee even with the onset of persistent and prolonged remission.
Symptoms of cytomegalovirus
In many people who are carriers of cytomegalovirus, it does not show any symptoms. Symptoms of cytomegalovirus may appear as a result of disorders in the immune system.
Sometimes, in individuals with normal immunity, this virus causes a so-called mononucleosis-like syndrome. This syndrome occurs 20 to 60 days after infection and lasts 2-6 weeks. It appears high fever, chills, fatigue, malaise and headache. In most cases, the mononucleosis-like syndrome ends with complete recovery.
Cytomegalovirus causes severe diseases( damage to the eyes, lungs, digestive system and brain) that can lead to death in persons with weakened immunity( HIV-infected, chemotherapy for malignant tumors, immunosuppressive therapy for internal organ transplantation).
Cytomegalovirus infection during pregnancy
When a woman is infected during pregnancy, in most cases she develops an acute form of the disease. Possible damage to the lungs, liver, brain.
Patient notes of complaint on:
- fatigue, headache, general weakness;
- increase and soreness when touching the salivary glands;
- discharge from the nose of a mucous nature;
- highlighting whitish color from the genital tract;
- abdominal pain( due to the increased tone of the uterus).
When a fetus is infected during pregnancy( but not during childbirth), it is possible to develop congenital cytomegalovirus infection in a child. The latter leads to severe diseases and lesions of the central nervous system( lag in mental development, deafness).In 20-30% of cases a child dies. Congenital cytomegalovirus infection is observed almost exclusively in children whose mothers during pregnancy are newly infected with cytomegalovirus.
Treatment of cytomegalovirus during pregnancy includes antiviral therapy based on intravenous injection of acyclovir;application of drugs for the correction of immunity( cytotect, immunoglobulin intravenously), as well as conducting control tests after the course of therapy.
Cytomegalovirus in children
Congenital cytomegalovirus infection is diagnosed in a child usually in the first month and has the following possible manifestations:
- cramp, trembling limbs;
- drowsiness;
- vision impairment;
- problems with mental development.
The manifestation is possible and in a more mature age, when the child is 3-5 years old, and usually looks like ARI( temperature, sore throat, runny nose).
Diagnosis
Cytomegalovirus is diagnosed using the following methods:
- detecting the presence of the virus in body fluids;
- PCR( polymerase chain reaction);
- culture on cells;
- detection of specific antibodies in serum.
See also: study of igg antibodies to cytomegalovirus in Invitro.
Consequences of
When a critical decrease in immunity and inability of the body to produce an adequate immune response, the cytomegalovirus infection passes into a generalized form and causes inflammation of many internal organs:
- of the adrenal gland;
- of the hepatic tissue;
- of the pancreas;
- of the kidney;
- spleen;
- peripheral nervous tissue and central nervous system.
Today, WHO puts the generalized form of cytomegalovirus infection in second place in the number of deaths worldwide after ARI and influenza.
Treatment of cytomegalovirus
In case of activation of the virus, in any case it is impossible to carry out any self-medication - this is simply unacceptable! It is necessary to consult a specialist to get the right therapy, in conjunction with which there will be immunomodulatory medications.
The most common treatment is cytomegalovirus, aimed at strengthening the immune system, and also includes antiviral, general restorative therapy and antibiotics. There is no method that would allow the eradication of the herpes virus. But these methods of treatment of cytomegalovirus infection allow you to put the virus in an inactive form, in which the activity of the pathogen is completely controlled by the immune system.
Prevention of
Cytomegalovirus is especially dangerous during pregnancy, as it can provoke miscarriage, stillbirth or cause severe congenital malformations in a child.
Therefore, cytomegalovirus, along with herpes, toxoplasmosis and rubella, is one of those infections that women should be screened for prophylactically, even at the stage of pregnancy planning.
To which doctor to contact
Often the diagnosis of CMV infection is handled by a gynecologist observing a future mother. If necessary, treatment of the disease shows advice infektsionista. A neonatal child with a congenital infection is treated by a neonatologist, then a pediatrician, observed by a neurologist, an ophthalmologist, an ENT doctor.
In adults, with the activation of CMV infection, it is necessary to consult an immunologist( often one of the signs of AIDS), a pulmonologist and other specialized specialists.