Cytomegalovirus (CMV) in the blood

Cytomegalovirus "cell size–increasing virus" (Cytomegalovirus hominis) is a DNA-containing virus belonging to the herpesvirus family. It refers to an opportunistic infection, that is, causing the disease only under favorable conditions for it (decrease in immunity). The virus is able to stay in the body for many years in a "dormant" latent state and makes itself known at the most inopportune moment.

Cytomegalovirus infection occurs in three ways:

ARVI is a similar variant (fever, sore throat, runny nose, general weakness, headache, swelling of the salivary glands!)

Damage to the organs of the genitourinary system (urethritis, cystitis...)

Generalized form (damage to individual organs - lungs, liver, kidneys, intestines, brain, etc.)

When examining the saliva of practically healthy individuals, according to statistics, cytomegalovirus infection is detected in almost sixty percent of cases, and in people over fifty years of age, in almost one hundred percent of cases, but people continue to remain perfectly healthy, because the virus is in an inactive state. Cytomegalovirus is a potentially dangerous group of TORCH infections for fetus development (toxoplasma, rubella virus, cytomegalovirus, herpes).

The main source of infection is a human carrier of the virus. Since cytomegalovirus is able to survive in various body environments, its transmission becomes possible:

Through kissing, due to the virus content in saliva;

Through the blood, in particular during transfusion of whole blood and its components;

From mother to child through milk during lactation;

During sexual contact.

The clinical picture of cytomegalovirus infection is very diverse and depends primarily on which organ or system is involved in the pathological process.

Detection of cytomegalovirus by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is characterized by high sensitivity and specificity (98%). The principle of PCR is to identify a unique DNA fragment belonging to a virus after repeated doubling of the studied genetic material in a test tube.

In the OLYMP CDL branches, PCR analysis are done in REAL-TIME mode, which means that after each hardware cycle (amplification), the amount of DNA in the biomaterial is measured. This procedure reduces the probability of a false positive result to almost zero!

The test material is blood, which helps in the diagnosis of a generalized form of cytomegalovirus infection.