Cytomegalovirus natural history, complications and prognosis

Template:Cytomegalovirus Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Natural History

Once a person becomes infected, the virus latently persists in the body for the person's life and can exhaust the immune system at old age, increasing risk of mortality from other diseases. Recurrent disease rarely occurs unless the person's immune system is suppressed due to therapeutic drugs or disease. Initial CMV infection, which may have few symptoms, is always followed by a prolonged, inapparent infection during which the virus resides in cells without causing detectable damage or clinical illness. Severe impairment of the body's immune system by medication or disease (see below) may reactivate the virus from the latent or dormant state.