Essential
- Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a viral disease that can reach the fetus, more precisely cause brain, eye and auditory disorders, if it occurs in a pregnant woman.
- However, a viral serology in search of the disease is prescribed only if evocative symptoms appear.
- In order for all patients to benefit from treatments to reduce the risk of transmission and sequelae, a collective asks to make CMV screening systematic.
Saliva, tears, urine, nasal secretions … cytomegalovirus (CMV), a virus from the herpesvirus family, is excreted in these body fluids. According to health insurance, children under 3 attending a crèche or a community are, most often, bearers, without being sick. In general, pregnant women contract cytomegalovirus infection, the most frequent maternity-fetal infections, by contacting these toddlers, for example by changing their diapers, making them kisses or sharing toilet linen or utensils. “Indirect contamination through infected objects is also possible”, Indicates the American hospital in Paris.
CMV: brain, hearing and eye sequelae appear in children
In pregnant women, of which around 40 % are not immune to cytomegalovirus at the beginning of pregnancy, the first infection, often asymptomatic, can cause manifestations accompanied by pseudo-monucleosic syndrome (fatigue, lymph nodes, fever, etc.).
In addition, this viral disease represents a danger to the fetus. “When the CMV crosses the placenta, the fetus may or may not have symptoms in the uterus. In 90 % of cases, the infection is inappropriate in the fetus, but sequelae can nevertheless appear after birth. This is frequently the case when the infection occurs during the third trimester of pregnancy”, Indicates the public health information service site.
-In the event of fetal contamination, which is mainly done by transplacental hematogenic route, the possible damage to the birth of the birth are essentially, hearing sequelae with deafness, ocular anomalies (chorioretinitis), intrauterine growth retardation, neurological sequelae (psychomotor delay, epilepsy, etc.). According to a collective, whose tribune has been published worldwide, each year, 800 children are born with disabilities due to a CMV infection. “In a third of cases of severe fetus infection, a premature birth or a miscarriage can occur, this last case being caused by its death in the uterus”, Can we read on health.fr.
Systematically detect cytomegalovirus in pregnant women, “a health emergency”
The diagnosis of cytomegalovirus infection is made thanks to a blood test. In the fetus, anomalies are detected during an ultrasound (intrauterine growth retardation, insufficient head size, brain abnormalities, increased liver, placental abnormalities). In the mother, the appearance of influenza syndrome with fever, fatigue and headache, occurring without obvious cause, can lead the doctor to prescribe a serology.
In the gallery, the collective asks to integrate systematic serological screening of cytomegalovirus in the monitoring of pregnancies, as that “becomes an obviousness and a health and ethical emergency. (…) Today, only well -informed women – or followed by awareness -raising professionals – benefit from optimal care in a real care path.”
However, if the infection is detected early, “Antiviral treatments, whose safety is clear, and other medical interventions can reduce the risk of transmission to the fetus and therefore the risk of sequelae in children. However, without systematic screening, these solutions remain out of reach for many women.”
