Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a virus that infects more than 60 percent of Americans by the time they reach adulthood. For most people, CMV infection is of no consequence; however, it can cause severe illness or death in people with compromised immune systems and in developing fetuses.
CMV may be transmitted in milk, saliva, urine, cervical secretions, semen, and transplanted tissue, including blood. The virus is not readily transmitted by casual contact. Most adult infections are asymptomatic, and the remainder (approximately 10 percent) have cold or flu-like symptoms or an illness similar to mononucleosis.
Approximately 1 percent of American neonates are infected with CMV. Congenital CMV infections almost always are a result of primary maternal infection, meaning the mother became infected with CMV for the first time while pregnant. Only rarely is it a result of reactivation of dormant maternal infection. Congenital CMV infections range from asymptomatic to severe and disseminated. Most of these are asymptomatic at birth, but over subsequent years significant psychomotor, hearing, ocular, or dental abnormalities will develop in 5 to 25 percent of these infants. Overt disease is present in approximately 5 percent of infected fetuses; of these, 30 to 50 percent develop brain development abnormalities.
Generally, after a person becomes infected with CMV, the virus goes dormant but remains in the body, similar to the behavior of the viruses that cause cold sores, genital herpes, and chickenpox. In certain circumstances, the virus may reactivate with or without symptoms, and during this time the person may be contagious. Tests for antibodies to CMV can distinguish between current (recent) infection and past (inactive) infection. Persons with current or recent infection have IgM antibodies to CMV in their blood; once the infection is over, these antibodies disappear from the blood. Persons with past infection have IgG antibodies to CMV; these antibodies remain in the blood indefinitely.
Xytex tests its donors for IgG and IgM antibodies to CMV at least every six months. Approximately 60 percent of our donors are IgG positive, in line with statistics in the general population. All of our donors are IgM negative; we do not accept semen from IgM positive donors.
Xytex urges you to discuss the issues of CMV with your doctor. After all, your doctor is the best person to explain how these issues pertain to your individual situation. Most likely, you are already seropositive (IgG-positive) for CMV. Even if you are seronegative, your risk of being infected with CMV from an IgG-positive donor (who is IgM-negative) is very slight. The CMV status of each donor is listed in his basic profile on the Xytex website.
–Dr. J. Todd Spradlin, Medical Director, Xytex Corporation
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