Question
Is CMV present in saliva?
4 August 2010. Related: Opportunistic infections.
Although I understand that most of the adult population may have contracted CMV and manage to keep it suppressed with a healthy immune system, what are changes one can get CMV from male receptive oral sex if either person is also HIV+?
Is CMV present in saliva and transmittable that way?
Thank you in advance for your response.
Answer
CMV (cytomegolavirus) is present in all body fluids including saliva, tears, blood, urine, breatmilk, semen, cervical fluid etc. This is why nearly everyone at some point comes into contact with this virus including more than 60% of heterosexuals and over 90% of gay men. Luckily, CMV is well controlled by the immune system and is thought of as a generally harmless virus.
However, it becomes an active infection if the immune system is severely suppressed, The two main groups of people affected are in untreated advanced HIV, and in transplant recipients.
The earliest discussion of safer sex – before HIV was discovered as the virus that causes AIDS – included discussion to reduce exposure to CMV. Some researchers think that CMV may have a long-term impact on your immune system, by keeping it activated for decades.
However, as there is currently no vaccine or cure, treatment is so toxic and expensive that it is only used to treat active infection, and we all are probably CMV-positive, let’s hope they are wrong…
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