What Causes a Fever? Here's What to Know—And When to See a Doctor<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nAccording to the CDC, a cytomegalovirus infection can cause more serious health problems, including mononucleosis (also known as mono) or hepatitis, which is inflammation of the liver, though these occurrences are rare.<\/p>\n
Immunocompromised individuals—or those whose immune systems don't function properly and can't properly defend the body against illnesses—might experience other complications due to a cytomegalovirus infection. Specifically, their eyes, liver, lungs, esophagus, intestines, and stomach can be affected, according to the CDC. In addition to severe illness, a cytomegalovirus infection could result in death for an immunocompromised individual, Martin Hirsch, MD, a professor of medicine at Harvard University and editor in chief of The Journal of Infectious Diseases<\/em>, tells Health<\/em>.<\/p>\nCMV infections can also affect babies, who can be born with the condition—known as congenital CMV—when they're exposed to the virus in utero. The CDC says most babies born with congenital CMV don't show signs of the illness or go on to develop health issues from it. However, some infants will present with signs of an infection, per the CDC, that include:<\/p>\n
\n- Rash<\/li>\n
- Jaundice<\/li>\n
- Microcephaly (small head)<\/li>\n
- Low birth weight<\/li>\n
- Hepatosplenomegaly (enlarged liver and spleen)<\/li>\n
- Seizures<\/li>\n
- Retinitis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some children who present with signs of CMV at birth may also develop future health problems, like hearing loss, developmental delays, vision loss, microcephaly, and seizures—and, in some rare cases, CMV can result in pregnancy loss before the infant is delivered.<\/p>\n
If you believe you are showing symptoms of CMV—or you think a family member or child is—you can discuss the possibility of being tested by your local health provider or pharmacist. The CDC says blood tests specifically can test adults showing CMV symptoms; in babies, experts recommend testing their saliva and urine. <\/p>\n
And while otherwise healthy individuals infected with CMV aren't likely to require any medical treatment, there are therapies available to treat an infection in immunocompromised people, or babies with signs of congenital CMV, like antiviral treatments, that may help out with hearing or developmental issues that come as a result from a congenital CMV infection. <\/p>\n
To get our top stories delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Healthy Living<\/a> newsletter<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cytomegalovius is the virus that you've probably already had without even knowing it. The virus—commonly known as CMV—is estimated to have infected over half of American adults by the time they hit 40, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A large number of those infections occur in childhood: The CDC estimates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,196],"tags":[37,198],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}