It’s a virus almost everyone gets infected with by the time they’re 40. It’s called cytomegalovirus (CMV) and it’s also the leading infection to blame for birth defects in the U.S.
Most people don’t show CMV symptoms, but for those who do, things can get rough.
Lindsay Carullo recovered from CMV.
“I had never been sick like that before, but I just thought it was cold,” she said.
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She had the cytomegalovirus, or CMV for short, while she was pregnant. She made a relatively quick recovery but passed the virus to her daughter, Abigail, who did not.
“She was only two or three months of age when we were going through all of this,” Carullo said. “It was pretty hard for those first six months.”
Baby Abigail had congenital CMV causing mild to moderate hearing loss. It’s one of the most common CMV birth defects. Others include vision loss, motor issues, or death in rare cases.
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“It's spread with fluids,” said Kristina Bormann physician assistant at Paradigm Clinical Research. “So, saliva, urine, that's the most common way that it's spread typically by small children. So, I would recommend that parents or caregivers really do a good job of washing their hands after changing diapers or sharing food with kids.”
Bormann said most people don’t know about CMV. Carullo was one of them and wants other parents to be careful, especially if their child is in a daycare setting. She thinks she may have caught it from her older daughter’s daycare.
“That's the scary part about it is the CDC told you, ‘Don’t kiss your child and just make sure you wash your hands.’” Carullo said. “And it's like, well, you can't do that to a toddler. So just be extra cautious when you're pregnant.”
Abigail is now 5 years old and made a full recovery.
Paradigm researchers say they see how tricky it can be to avoid CMV so the center is hosting multiple studies to find a vaccine. It’s recruiting more paid study participants ages 9-40, click here for more details.
To learn more about CMV, click here.
