Cytomegalovirus (from the Greek ''cyto-'', "cell", and ''-megalo-'', "large") is a herpes viral genus of the Herpesviruses group: in humans it is commonly known as HCMV or Human Herpesvirus 5 (HHV-5).Elsewhere HCMV is
A virus that infects 50-85% of adults in the US by age 40 and is also the virus most frequently transmitted to a child before birth.That is probably as much as I want to know, before I get overloaded.
Primary (or the initial) CMV infection in the immunocompromised patient can cause serious disease. However, the more common problem is the reactivation of the dormant virus. Infection with CMV is a major cause of disease and death in immunocompromised patients, including organ transplant recipients, patients undergoing hemodialysis, patients with cancer, patients receiving immunosuppressive drugs, and HIV-infected patients.
The consensus statement by the International Transplantation Society recommends numerous testing of both donor and recipient prior to operation and the use of prophylaxis over preemptive therapy for highest risk recipients. Generally treatment can be between 3 and 6 months and it is recommended that recipients be tested once a week during the treatment, to monitor treatment progress and check for drug resistance. From the consensus statement
Unlike the ELISPOT assay, ICS (and QuantiFERON) can provide both quantitative and qualitative characteristics of CMV-specific T cells.And unlike the QuantiFERON assay, which is simple to use, the ICS (intracellular cytokine staining) requires access to a flow cytometer
