CMV
Meaning of CMV: CMV is the abbreviation for cytomegalovirus, a herpesvirus that most often causes no illness but can be serious during pregnancy or immune suppression.
Definition of CMV
CMV is the standard abbreviation for cytomegalovirus, a virus in the herpesvirus family that infects a large proportion of people over a lifetime, frequently without causing any noticeable illness. Once acquired, the virus remains in the body in an inactive state and can reactivate later, particularly if the immune system becomes weakened.
In someone with a healthy immune system, CMV infection is usually mild or unnoticed. It becomes more clinically important in people with weakened immunity, including those who have undergone organ or bone marrow transplantation or who are being treated for cancer, in whom CMV can cause more serious illness, including pneumonia.
CMV can also be transmitted from a pregnant person to a fetus and is a recognized cause of congenital infection, which is why testing for CMV is sometimes performed during pregnancy or before transplantation, alongside monitoring in people with suppressed immune function.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
CMV testing was ordered as part of the pre-transplant evaluation.
Good to know
CMV infection often causes no noticeable illness in a person with a healthy immune system, which is part of why its clinical significance depends heavily on whether the person affected is pregnant or immunocompromised.