CMV: Cytomegalovirus

I’ll be honest, I’d not even heard of CMV, other than its the initials of a cruise company! I’ve heard things batted around that its similar to “A Common Cold Virus” or its “Like the Chicken Pox Virus” but in all honesty, I am pretty sure that this journey will be a big journey full of education too.

So today I had a blood test to check my CMV status (plus another armful for other screening tests) because this will determine what donor I can go for based on their CMV status.

So…today is about education on what CMV is

CMV, or Cytomegalovirus, is a common virus that can infect people of all ages. 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. Congenital CMV is when a baby has been infected before birth. It is one of the leading causes of hearing loss in children and one of the main causes of childhood disability.  (Taken from CMVAction.Org.Uk)

Around 80% of people will have had CMV, but some will have been very much asymptomatic and it can take on different strains and develop, so whilst you may have had one strain of CMV, then you may re-get an active infection. Practicing good hand hygiene (and overall hygiene) seems to be the recommendation for this as its something we have to live with because there is no vaccine either.

Of all women who catch CMV for the first time during their pregnancy, around a third will pass it on to their unborn baby. And for those babies who have it passed on to them around 4 out of 5 of them won’t have any health problems.

And yet, how many of us have heard about CMV? Not many of us! Its not always talked about during pregnancy either! June is CMV Awareness Month so I am glad I am writing this blog in June to hopefully help spread some awareness too!

You can also follow CMV Action on Facebook and Twitter too even if you just share one post you’ll help raise awareness!