STD: HOW IS CYTOMEGALOVIRUS TRANSMITTED?
Cytomegalovirus is present in the genital secretions of both men and women who are infected. Other body fluids that have been found to have sufficient quantity of virus for transmission are blood, saliva, urine, and breast milk. Thus cytomegalovirus can be transmitted through oral, anal, and genital sexual contact, through kissing, through blood exchange (such as sharing injection drug works), and from mother to child either in the uterus or at birth. Children in day care and at school often infect each other through saliva.
Sexual transmission occurs in heterosexuals, men who have sex with other men, and women who have sex with other women. Men who have sex with other men have the highest infection rate. The more sexual partners a person has, the higher the risk of acquiring CMV. Condoms, if used properly and used for any sexual act, help prevent transmission, although the virus can be transmitted through kissing. People do not become reinfected if they have been previously infected.
Mothers who are infected can infect the fetus in the womb or the infant during delivery or breast feeding. As mentioned previously, the highest risk for infection occurs when a mother becomes infected during the pregnancy. But in a woman who has a latent infection the virus may reactivate during pregnancy and infect the fetus. Approximately 1 percent of children born in the United States are infected with cytomegalovirus at birth. With all these routes of transmission, it’s easy to understand why, by the time they are adults, many people have become infected, although they are usually symptom free and would not know they were infected unless tested.
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