cytomegalic inclusion disease

Also from Answers.com... Chemotherapy Learn what to expect, and what can be done to improve the experience.

(medicine) A virus infection primarily of infants characterized by jaundice, liver enlargement, and circulatory disturbances.

As the name indicates, cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease is a virus infection. It is caused by herpes virus type 5, and it takes two forms. Intrauterine infection of the fetus is a very serious, often lethal, condition that affects a small proportion (about 5–10%) of infants whose mothers contract the infection during pregnancy. In the United States this is about 0.5 to 1.0 percent of all pregnancies. When it is not fatal, the infant may suffer from permanent neurological damage, as well as damage to the eyes, liver, lungs, and other organs. CMV infection is also a serious risk following organ and bone-marrow transplants. The risk is greatest when the donor is seropositive (i.e. a carrier) and the recipient is seronegative. A third category of CMV infection can occur as a complication of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).

CMV is transmitted mainly by intimate personal contact of an infected and an uninfected mucosal surface during sexual intercourse, by body secretions, and in feces. The incubation period is several weeks, and infected individuals remain capable of transmitting the virus for many months, perhaps for life. Antiviral agents may arrest the progress of the disease, but by far the most important actions are preventive, including careful attention to hygiene at all times. Universal precautions are highly desirable in handling all suspected or potentially contaminated body secretions.

(SEE ALSO: Communicable Disease Control; HIV/AIDS; Maternal and Child Health; Pregnancy)

— JOHN M. LAST

A disease caused by infection with cytomegalovirus, characterized by the presence of inclusion bodies in infected cells, enlargement of the liver and spleen, jaundice, purpura, thrombocytopenia, and fever; it often occurs in newborn infants, acquired in the womb or when passing through the birth canal of an infected mother, and can also occur in individuals with impaired immune systems. Also called cytomegalovirus disease, inclusion body disease.