The symptoms and treatment of cytomegalovirus in children

The cause of congenital cytomegalovirus infection in children is intrauterine infection through the placenta. Infection in the first months of pregnancy threatens the death of the fetus if the infection occurs later, the fetus may survive, but its development will be compromised.

According to the who, the European countries in CMV infected approximately 2.5 % of infants, for Russia this figure is 4 %. Health most newborns is not affected, in some cases, children become passive carriers of the infection.

The symptoms of cytomegalovirus in children

Only 17 % of infected kids there are different symptoms of cytomegalovirus infection: jaundice, enlarged internal organs (liver, spleen), low hemoglobin, changes in the biochemical composition of the blood. Symptoms of cytomegalovirus in children in severe cases may be disorders of the Central nervous system, ocular and auditory apparatus. Most often in the first hours or first days after birth an infected baby, there was abundant rash on the skin of the face, torso, arms and legs. The disease may be accompanied by bleeding under the skin or mucous membranes, in addition, can bleed the umbilical wound, and discovered the blood in the stool. With the defeat of the brain the disease is manifested by trembling of the arms, convulsions, increased sleepiness. Congenital cytomegalovirus infection accompanied by decreased or complete loss of vision, seizures, developmental delays.

If the mother at the time of birth the child suffers from an acute form of cytomegalovirus infection, the baby's blood for the presence of antibodies to the causative agent of the disease is studied in the first weeks or months of baby's life. When reading the results of the analysis taken into account the fact that IgG antibodies detected in the blood of the child in the first three months after birth are not considered to be a sign of congenital disease, provided a latent carrier of the infection from his mother, after three months, these antibodies disappear by themselves. Only the presence of IgM may indicate acute stage of an infectious disease. However, the identification of the newborn in laboratory diagnosis of congenital cytomegalovirus infection does not mean that the development of the disease in the acute form is inevitable. However, this may be cause for concern, as high probability of occurrence of the later manifestations of the infection process. Therefore, these kids need constant attention from specialists for early detectionsymptoms of the disease and timely treatment. In some cases, the first symptoms of cytomegalovirus infection can appear on the third or fifth year of a child's life. Also proved the fact of transfer of cytomegalovirus infection in pre-school groups through saliva.

The symptoms of cytomegalovirus in children resemble acute respiratory infections: fever, chills, runny nose, swelling of the throat, increase in the size of lymph nodes, increased sleepiness. In some cases, further development of the disease threatens to inflammation of the lungs, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and endocrine glands (adrenal, pituitary). Latent period of the disease, occurs without violations on the part of the immune system, is considered to be quite common and in most cases does not threaten the health of the child.

Treatment of cytomegalovirus infection in children

Treatment of cytomegalovirus in children is carried out using antiviral drugs, which translate the causative agent of the disease in a benign (passive) form.