Cytomegalovirus is a common virus and infects people of all ages. It spreads via direct contact with body fluids such as semen, saliva, breast milk, vaginal fluid, and blood. Mostly, people infected with CMV are asymptomatic or present with minor flu-like symptoms. The virus remains in the body once a person is infected and remains dormant. This is called latent infection. Diseases can occur if the latent infection reactivates later in life. Isolation of CMV, its nucleic acid or viral protein from body fluid or any tissue sample is considered an infection. . In patients with a weak immune system, symptomatic disease mostly exhibits as a mononucleosis syndrome which was first recognized in adults in 1965. Patients immunocompromised by HIV infection, bone marrow transplantation or solid-organ transplantation and those taking tumor necrosis antagonists, high-dose steroids, or other immunosuppressing medications for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Crohn disease, or psoriasis frequently develop clinically significant CMV disease (newly acquired infection or reactivation, of a previously dormant illness). CMV infection leads to AIDS and ultimately fatality in people infected with HIV.
