Be careful when babies are infected with cytomegalovirus

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus that can cause infection in anyone. Most people do not know they carry the CMV virus because it rarely causes symptoms. However, for pregnant women and infants, cytomegalovirus infection is a cause for concern.

CMV virus rarely causes serious complications in healthy children. However, fetuses, infants, and people with weakened immune systems are different. You only need to be infected with CMV virus once, the virus will stay in your body for life but not always active. It can reactivate after a few weeks, months or years, causing more severe symptoms, and this is only common in young children with immune system problems.

Symptoms of cytomegalovirus infection in children

The symptoms of this disease vary from person to person depending on the age, health, and number of times the child is infected. Babies infected with the cytomegalovirus virus in the womb usually appear healthy at birth, but there are some signs that progress over time. There are also some babies infected with cytomegalovirus with symptoms at birth such as:

Preterm birth

Small pregnancy for gestational age

Jaundice

Enlarged liver and spleen

Difficulty breastfeeding

Minor head disease

In addition, babies with congenital cytomegalovirus infection are at an increased risk of hearing, vision, neurological, and growth problems. Term and preterm babies infected with cytomegalovirus after birth are also at risk for future growth and neurological problems.

Although CMV-infected postnatal infants do not cause serious problems, they may also have symptoms such as pneumonia, hepatitis or a rash.

When infected with cytomegalovirus, school age and puberty children will experience symptoms such as fatigue, muscle aches, headache, fever, enlarged liver and spleen. These symptoms are usually mild and last only 2-3 weeks.

CMV can cause serious infections in people who have had an organ transplant or who have weakened immune systems. In people with HIV / AIDS , CMV infection can affect the lungs, nervous system, digestive tract, and eyes.

How long does it take for cytomegalovirus infection to recover?

How long the symptoms of this disease last depends on how you are infected, the age and the health of each person. For example, congenital CMV infection can cause growth and development problems that have long-term effects on baby's health, while teenagers infected with cytomegalovirus often have symptoms lasting only 2-3 weeks and does not cause serious problems.

Transmission route of cytomegalovirus

For young children, children can get the virus infected in preschools, where the virus is easily exposed, especially through contaminated toys.

Each year, about 1 in 150 infants (less than 1%) are born with CMV, and about 8,000 have long-term health problems caused by CMV. A mother infected with CMV can pass the virus to her baby before, during, or after birth.

Anyone who has been or is infected with CMV can pass the virus on to others, even if the infected person does not have any symptoms. CMV is spread from person to person through contact with body fluids, such as blood, saliva, urine, vaginal fluids, semen, and milk. It can also be present in blood or donated organs, causing infection.

Diagnosis and treatment

Your doctor can diagnose CMV infection by taking a sample of fluid from the throat, urine, blood, tissue, or other body fluids. Blood tests may also be done to confirm CMV infection. There is currently no specific treatment recommended for healthy children infected with CMV.

In infants, transplant patients and young children with immune disorders such as AIDS, CMV infection can be life-threatening. These individuals may be treated with intravenous antiviral drugs . Newborn babies often stay in hospital during treatment because these antiviral drugs can cause serious side effects. Therefore, children need to be monitored regularly. Oral antiviral medications can also be used at home once the infection has been controlled and no longer causes serious symptoms.

Prevention of cytomegalovirus infection in young children

There is currently no vaccine to prevent CMV infection. Ask children and those in contact with them to wash their hands often to help reduce the risk of infection. In addition, do not let children share utensils with others and avoid letting children come into contact with infected people.

Breastfeeding women infected with CMV should not stop breastfeeding because the benefits from breast milk outweigh the risk of passing CMV to the baby.