Cytomegalovirus Infection
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is also a type of Herpes virus and is commonly found in bodily fluids like saliva, blood, urine, and tears. [2] It is transmitted mostly through kissing and sexual intercourse and can be transmitted from an infected mother to her unborn baby. Once a person is infected with this virus, it stays in the person’s system throughout their lifetime. In many infected people, this virus rarely causes any signs or symptoms but in infants, transplant recipients, HIV patients, and in people with compromised or weak immune systems, it can cause severe or life-threatening symptoms. Among vulnerable people groups, this virus is usually a major cause of infectious mononucleosis and complications like inflammations in the brain, liver, large intestines, etc can occur.
After infection, these viruses begin to replicate in the epithelial cells of the pharynx which is the cause of sore throat after which they proceed to invade the B cells of the body. The infection triggers immune responses from the body of the infected person resulting in the different symptoms of this infection.
This infection is usually diagnosed by taking a proper medical history to determine if there are close contacts or family members who have the infection, physical examination to find enlarged lymph nodes and spleen as well as other diagnostic tests which include the Heterophile antibody test, serologic tests that detect the antibodies produced against the causative virus, etc.